


Forever Timeless

by Chocolatequeen



Series: Being To Timelessness [7]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Wolf Rose Tyler, Episode AU: s04e16 The Waters of Mars, Episode AU: s05e01 The Eleventh Hour, Episode: s04e14 The Next Doctor, Episode: s04e15 Planet of the Dead, F/M, Family, Married Couple, Romance, Team as Family, Telepathic Bond, Telepathy, definitely pay attention to the au in those
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:34:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 47,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27486625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chocolatequeen/pseuds/Chocolatequeen
Summary: Two months after the Dalek Crucible, the Doctor and Rose are getting used to having the biggest family on Earth. As they visit Leadworth in 1996, Victorian England, a mysterious desert planet, and Elizabethan England, those family and friends often help in unexpected ways. But no matter where they go or who they're with, it's always the Doctor in the TARDIS with Rose Tyler--just as it should be.
Relationships: Lee McAvoy/Donna Noble, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: Being To Timelessness [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/252067
Comments: 205
Kudos: 318





	1. Family Time

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back, finally! I hope you enjoy this story. You'll get a second update on Thursday, and then we'll settle into our regular Tuesday updates.

Chapter One: Family Time

Rose leaned back into the drop cloth-covered couch and looked around the room. Her mum and Pete had purchased a house in Cardiff, and she and the Doctor had spent all day painting and cleaning. After two months spent monitoring the lingering effects of the Reality Bomb, the domesticity was jarring.

A sharp pain hit Rose between her shoulder blades, and she grimaced and rolled her shoulders. Every muscle in her body ached. She was in good shape, but she didn’t usually spend hours holding a paint roller over her head.

A moment later, familiar hands settled on her shoulders and started massaging the tension away. Rose sighed and leaned forward so the Doctor could get that spot in the middle of her back.

She enjoyed the massage for a few minutes, then reached for his hand and tugged, asking him silently to sit down with her. He collapsed beside her, looking every bit as tired as she felt. He had a smudge of dirt on his cheek and his hair stuck straight up.

“What have you and Pete been up to?”

“Putting together the furniture for Tony’s room.” The Doctor rubbed a hand over his face, smudging the dirt even more. “I need to create a setting on the sonic for Allen keys. Those belong on a list of forbidden torture devices.”

Jackie’s snort interrupted Rose’s teasing response. “And here I thought you were some kind of superior alien,” she said as she entered the room, carrying two tall glasses of water. “How the mighty have fallen—defeated by an Ikea flat pack.”

Rose listened to the Doctor’s internal debate, weighing the merits of defending himself against the likelihood that Jackie would dump the glass of water over his head. In the end, he only rolled his eyes and said, “Thankfully, the fate of the universe has never rested on my ability to put together furniture named after obscure Scandinavian locales.”

Jackie handed them the water and sat down on a folding chair. “Speaking of strange places, we haven’t seen Jenny and Donna lately. Where are they at now?”

Rose blinked. “You’ve seen them?”

Her mum raised an eyebrow. “You would have seen them too if you hadn’t been off to Neptune doing whatever,” she retorted. “They stopped by a few weeks ago before catching a plane to New York.”

Rose sipped at her water to cover up the urge to sigh. The trip to Paris had whetted Jenny’s interest in seeing more of the Earth. By airplane, she’d insisted, because that was how humans did it.

Donna had been happy to travel the world with her. Rose suspected the trip was a way for her to keep her mind off the fact that they still hadn’t found Lee. Four months had passed since the Library, and the TARDIS still hadn’t picked up even a trace of him.

Rose abruptly realised her mum was staring at her expectantly. It only took her a second to remember what they’d been talking about.

“They’re in Sydney,” she said. “They’ll be back for your big housewarming party, but they really wanted to see Australia before coming home.”

“Hah!” Jackie wagged her finger at Rose. “Now you know what it’s like, having your only child go off travelling by herself.”

Rose pursed her lips. “It’s not that,” she argued. “Well, not only that,” she amended. “It’s fun having other people on the TARDIS with us. I miss it.”

“What do you miss?” Pete asked. He pulled a second folding chair over and sat down beside Jackie.

“Having friends travel with us.”

“Apparently I’m not enough company,” the Doctor added, earning a poke in the side from Rose and a snort from Jackie.

“More like you’re a bit too much,” Jackie countered. “Can’t imagine being married to an alien.”

“No, you just married a man from a parallel universe,” Pete interjected.

Jackie rolled her eyes, then looked at Rose. Rose groaned at the look in her eye. _Interrogation time,_ she warned the Doctor.

“Speaking of marrying an alien…” Jackie raised an eyebrow and looked at Rose, then at the Doctor, and back again. “You mentioned something about weird alien rituals.”

Rose opened her mouth, but before she could start explaining the bond, her mother started rambling.

“I’ve been thinking, maybe you had to wear funny hats? Or defeat someone in armed combat?” She pointed at the Doctor. “Maybe Rose had to go back in time to ask your family for your hand in marriage.”

“Nothing like that, Mum,” Rose said quickly before Jackie could continue on that train of thought and bring back painful memories of Gallifrey.

“Well, what was it then?” She narrowed her eyes. “You better not have been naked for this wedding.”

“No! We were fully clothed.” The Doctor felt his neck heat up.

_Help!_

Rose took his hand and he let out a slow breath. “Leave ‘im be, Mum,” she scolded. “It was mostly just like a wedding. I wore a beautiful dress and we exchanged vows and rings and everything.”

“Well that doesn’t sound too weird.”

“Yeah…” Rose squeezed his hand and he squeezed back, agreeing with her sudden decision. “I was mostly teasing when I said that.”

Jackie crossed her arms over her chest. “So your wedding was completely normal?” she asked, dubious.

Rose bit her lip. “Well, we were alone in the TARDIS,” she said slowly. “And we did a handfasting because that’s part of the Doctor’s tradition.”

“Hmmm…” Jackie raised an eyebrow.

Rose knew she didn’t believe her, but explaining the bond was a far longer conversation than she wanted to have right now. Some day she’d try, but not today.

“It was perfect,” she said, wanting to move away from the alienness of their wedding.

As she thought about that day, something occurred to her. “And our wedding anniversary is only two weeks away,” she added.

The Doctor blinked, and she was glad she wasn’t the only one who’d lost track of time. “We’ll have to go someplace to celebrate.”

“Mind if I plan this trip?”

He smiled and brushed his thumb over her wrist. “I’d love it.”

“Rose?”

The childish voice drew everyone’s attention, and they all looked over at Tony, standing in the doorway.

“Yes, Tony?”

He shuffled forward, a book in his hand. “Will you and the Doctor read to me?”

The Doctor scooted over and patted the cushion in between himself and Rose. “You bet!”

The little boy grinned, then darted across the room and jumped up onto the couch. Rose grabbed the book from him before he could stab himself in the eye with it or something.

_“Under the Deep Blue Sea.”_

As Rose turned to the first page, she suddenly knew exactly where she wanted to take the Doctor for their anniversary.

oOoOo

The Doctor followed Rose as she pushed her way to the front of the crowd waiting at Heathrow. “The board says their flight landed half an hour ago,” she told him. “They should be almost through customs by now.”

When the first passengers started trickling in a few minutes later, the Doctor gave Rose one end of the sign they’d made. Around them, other people likewise held up their signs—Limousine for Mr. Arbuckle, etc.

The trickle turned into a solid wave of people. “Can you see them, Doctor?” Rose asked as she strained to look through the crowd.

“No… Wait! Yes! Hold the sign up, Rose.”

They waved it madly, and a moment later they were rewarded by familiar laughter. Rose leaned sideways and saw Jenny and Donna walking towards them, wheelie bags in tow.

“TARDIS for Miss Noble and Miss Tyler?” Donna rolled her eyes.

The Doctor turned the sign around and studied it. “Well, we wouldn’t want anyone else to think they could get a free ride.”

“We told you we’d take the train to Cardiff, though,” Jenny said.

Donna nudged her gently with her elbow. “You owe me ten quid, Jenny. I told you they wouldn’t be able to resist surprising us.”

The Doctor’s mouth fell open, and when he looked over at Rose he was thankful to see that at least she was as surprised as he was.

Jenny hitched her backpack up on her shoulders. “I still say giving them the flight information was cheating.”

“I didn’t realise we were so predictable,” the Doctor muttered.

Donna smirked and turned her suitcase so he could take the handle. “We just know you too well.”

Rose shook her head and grabbed Jenny’s suitcase. “Come on, we should get out of the way. The TARDIS is just a short bus ride away.”

Thirty minutes later, the Doctor unlocked the door and held it open while Rose, Donna, and Jenny walked inside. He heard Donna and Jenny sigh in unison, and raised his eyebrows at them.

“Glad you don’t have to take a train after travelling for over twenty-four hours?” he guessed.

“Definitely,” Donna said fervently.

“And glad we can hop into the Vortex and get some sleep without Gran knowing we didn’t go straight to Cardiff,” Jenny added.

The Doctor and Rose exchanged a glance, then Rose gave Donna and Jenny a sly smile. “About that… Are you set on going to Cardiff?”

Donna crossed her arms over her chest. “The housewarming party is next week. I’ve only met your mum a few times, but I have a pretty good idea of what will happen if you miss it.”

The Doctor grimaced and rubbed at his cheek, making everyone laugh.

Rose chuckled and shook her head. “Yeah, you’re right about that. But our anniversary is the day after tomorrow, so we’re going on a short holiday before the big shindig. We can drop you in Cardiff for the week, or—”

“Or,” Donna said before Rose could continue.

Jenny nodded eagerly. “You mean you’ll drop us off on another planet, yeah?”

“If you want,” Rose said.

Jenny and Donna exchanged a look, then broke out in matching grins. “Yes!”

Rose hugged Donna and kissed Jenny on the cheek, then gently pushed them both towards the corridor. “Go lie down. We’ll drop you off in the morning after you’ve slept off some of the jet lag.” She leaned against a strut and watched them go, while the Doctor sent them into the Vortex just like Jenny had asked.

He slid the dematerialisation lever into place, and the time rotor quietly chugged up and down. The transition into the Vortex was so smooth that Rose hardly felt it.

A soft mental tug caught her attention, and she looked over at the Doctor. He’d sat down on the jump seat, and now he patted the seat beside him.

Rose pushed off from the strut and walked around the console, hopping up to sit beside the Doctor like she’d done a thousand times. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him.

“What are you thinking?”

“This life,” she said, talking slowly so she could put the words together as they came to her. “It’s… so much more than I thought it would be.”

She paused, and the Doctor left the silence empty so she could think.

“I thought I’d lost this at Canary Wharf,” she said finally.

“Lost what?”

“Just… human things,” she said, testing the words as she went. “Helping family move. Meeting them at the airport.”

She tilted her head back so she could look at the Doctor. “I love our life, traveling through time and space. And if I could never have anything else, this is what I’d choose. Every time.”

“But we get to have more,” he supplied, understanding what she was trying to get at. “Our life in the TARDIS, and a family on Earth.”

“Yeah. Time and space… and family.”


	2. Another Year, Another Adventure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I mention there would be two chapters this week? Surprise, if I didn't. :)

**Chapter Two: Another Year, Another Adventure**

Rose glanced at the familiar faces standing around the console as she worked quickly to set the coordinates. She tugged at the bond to get the Doctor’s attention. He checked the destination and immediately nodded.

“Barcelona!” he enthused.

Rose smiled and sent them into motion while he started rambling about the planet.

“Gorgeous tropical resort. We’ve been twice. Beautiful beaches, gorgeous waterfalls to hike, and—”

“Dogs with no noses,” Rose said along with him.

Donna raised an eyebrow. “You’re both nutters,” she said, shaking her head. “Dogs with no noses? How do they smell?”

The Doctor giggled. “Exactly!”

Rose planted her feet and everyone quickly grabbed onto something before the TARDIS landed on Barcelona with a teeth-jarring thud. “Barcelona,” Rose said, waving at the door.

Donna and Jenny exchanged a grin, then ran up the ramp and pushed the door open. Brilliant sunlight streamed into the console room, and Rose could smell the salt tang of the ocean in the air.

“Oh, I have missed this!” Donna said.

“Missed travelling the galaxy, or not spending hours on a plane getting someplace?” the Doctor asked.

“Both!”

Jenny and Donna stepped back inside and picked up the bags they’d left by the door. Before they left, Donna turned around and pointed at Rose, then at the Doctor. “All right, we’re going to leave you to celebrate your anniversary on your own. But you’d better come for us on time.”

“Or you’ll do what?” the Doctor retorted.

Rose groaned and pressed her fist to her forehead. She could _hear_ the scowl on Donna’s face when their friend answered the Doctor.

“Or I’ll tie you down and bleach your hair blond,” she snapped.

Rose’s hand dropped to her mouth to hold back a laugh at the horrified expression on the Doctor’s face.

Donna nodded once, sharply. “Excellent. We’ll see you in a week, then.” She left the TARDIS and swung the door shut behind her.

“But… That’s…” The Doctor ran his hands through his hair.

Rose walked over to him and pulled his hands down, then smoothed over the most sticky-up pieces. “Don’t worry, Doctor. I like your hair too much to let her do that to you.”

He straightened his tie and preened. “It is pretty great, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I love your hair.” Rose waited a beat, then said, “So I’ll make sure I’m driving when we go pick them up.”

“Oi!”

The Doctor grabbed for her, but Rose laughed and twisted away from him, adjusting the navigation settings as she went. She felt him following her movements and knew the moment he had remembered they were actually on their way to their own holiday destination.

“So do I finally get to find out what your secret holiday plans are?”

“Well…” she said, stretching it out the way he did. “I’m not sure if it’s check-in time yet.”

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. “This is a time machine,” he reminded her. “Which I’m fairly certain you are aware of.”

“Yeah, you might have mentioned it.”

He raised his eyebrows and gestured at the console. Rose laughed, but she finally obliged him. “Prepare yourself for the holiday of a lifetime,” she said dramatically as she threw the dematerialisation lever.

The ship spun into the Vortex, and Rose twirled the opposite direction, dancing around the console until she was next to the Doctor.

“Do you know what?” she asked.

He grinned and pressed a quick kiss to her lips before finishing the familiar line. “Travelling with you—I love it.”

The TARDIS landed, and the lights in the console room flashed. He looked up at the time rotor. “It seems I’m not the only one excited for this trip.”

Rose slung her deceptively small bag over her shoulder. “We’ve been working on this together. She says you’ve never been anywhere like this before.”

“Welllll, I’m not sure about that. Not this exact place, maybe, but—” The Doctor pulled the door open and stopped talking immediately.

Rose stepped up beside him and took his hand. “Welcome to Critias.”

The idea that had come to her while reading to Tony had taken a firm hold of her mind. As soon as they’d gotten home that night, she’d asked the TARDIS if it was even possible.

_Is there a planet like Atlantis?_ Once they found the answer, they’d jumped at the chance.

The Doctor walked down the narrow alley as if in a trance and pressed his hand to the glass, fingers splayed out. A curious puffer fish swam forward to sniff at his fingers, but when he realised he couldn’t actually reach them, he swam away.

“This is…” The Doctor paused, then shook his head. “This is incredible, love. Thank you.”

“We explore the stars, but we never really touch this frontier,” Rose said.

“Another adventure with you.”

“Another year with you,” Rose corrected. “Happy anniversary, Doctor.”

Really, the Doctor reasoned, there was only one proper response when your bond mate wished you a happy anniversary. And so he wrapped an arm around Rose’s waist and pulled her close for a kiss.

“Thank you,” he murmured against her lips. “I love it.”

Rose pulled back and looked up at him, her nose wrinkled up a little. “Enough that it makes up for not getting a present? I didn’t get a chance to get you anything.”

The Doctor rested his hands on her hips and smiled down at her. “Absolutely. Although…” He pressed his tongue to the back of his teeth. “I don’t have a gift for you, either.”

Rose laughed. “You helped my mum and Pete set up their furniture last weekend, and you didn’t start one fight with Mum. That covers you for at least our anniversary.”

The Doctor chuckled. “All right. Now, where is this hotel?”

Rose pointed over his shoulder and he turned around to look at the building. It was positioned against the outer wall of the city, and he could easily imagine the kind of views the rooms would have.

He took a few steps down the alley, but Rose grabbed his hand and pulled him back. “I know I was joking when I said it wasn’t check-in time yet, but it really isn’t. I didn’t want to waste half the day by not getting here until mid afternoon.”

The Doctor nodded quickly. “Excellent decision. So, what should we do first?”

“Walk?” Rose suggested. “I can’t get enough of the view from the edge of the city.”

They moved from the alleyway to the path that snaked around the edge of the dome. “No, neither can I,” the Doctor agreed.

A giant piece of brilliant red seaweed floated by, the current picking up little tendrils and tugging them in different directions. A few more metres down the path, they watched a family of seahorses swim by.

“Why did they build a city under the ocean?” the Doctor wondered as they walked.

“I looked into that actually,” Rose said. “The planet was really struggling with overpopulation.”

He snorted. “So they decided to spread into the ocean? They’d squeezed out everyone on the surface and now they’d move into the fishes’ place too?”

Rose pinched him in the side. “Thought you were enjoying the trip,” she said pointedly.

“Oh, I am!” he said quickly. “Just… You know what, never mind. You’re right. So, there were too many humans on the surface—they are humans, it seems?”

Rose shook her head. “Nope. Critians are humanoid—I suppose you could say they look Time Lord—but they aren’t human. I dunno how they’re different exactly, but they are.”

The Doctor bit his tongue before he could launch into a rant on Rassilon spreading the Gallifreyan body type around the galaxy. There was a time and a place, and this was not it.

oOoOo

Their suite was an incredible underwater oasis. The hotel was situated against the main exterior bubble of the city, and each room actually bulged out into the open sea.

The Doctor watched the fish swim by while Rose slept on their first night there. He finally fell asleep as a jellyfish lazily drifted past.

The view when he woke up was _not_ so tranquil. Several long tentacles were wrapped around their domed ceiling, and a giant eye peered in through the glass.

His quick indrawn breath and suddenly tense muscles were enough to wake Rose up. “Wha’s wrong?” she asked groggily.

The Doctor had processed what he was looking at, and he was a little embarrassed to have been so easily startled. “Just found a Peeping Tom,” he said, trying to deflect from his own reaction.

Rose rolled slightly and looked up at the ceiling. The Doctor could feel her trying to grasp what she was seeing, and then finally she giggled. “Look, he’s stuck on you, Doctor.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes and huffed. “Really, Rose?”

Rose shifted closer to him, sliding her leg over his and wrapping an arm over his chest. “I dunno,” she whispered against his neck. “Stuck on you’s not so bad.”

The Doctor hissed and tilted his head back when she kissed the sensitive spot on his jaw, just below his ear. Rose smiled and scraped her teeth over the spot before sucking gently.

“Yeah, I like being stuck on you.”

The Doctor’s eyes blinked open, his gaze still met by the steady curiosity of the squid. He arched an eyebrow, then rolled over so he was looking down at Rose. “I’d rather watch you than our friendly cephalopod,” he murmured.

Rose laughed again, just as he pressed his lips to hers.

oOoOo

The squid was long gone by the time the Doctor and Rose were enjoying breakfast in bed. “What do you want to do today?” the Doctor asked in between bites of a fluffy pastry.

She shrugged. “Whatever you want. It’s a new planet to both of us—it might be fun to just hit all the main tourist spots.”

She bit into a pinkish fruit, and her eyes widened. “Try this,” she insisted, holding a bite out for him.

The Doctor wrapped his fingers around her wrist to hold her hand steady, then he bent to pull the fruit off her fork with his teeth. As soon as the flavour hit his tongue, he knew why Rose had been so insistent.

“Mmmm, banana.” He smacked his lips and immediately selected another slice from the tray. “A sea banana,” he added gleefully.

“Did you know there were other fruits in the galaxy that tasted like banana?”

He scoffed. “If I knew there were other perfect foods in the world, we would have them at home.”

Rose shook her head and laughed. “Of course, why did I even ask? I guess finding some sea bananas to take home is going on the list of must-see attractions.”

“Oh yes!”

They shared bites back and forth, enjoying all the unique flavours of Critian food. Once the platter was mostly picked clean, Rose kissed him on the cheek and slid out of bed. “Why don’t you look up things to do while I take a shower? I bet you can find out what that fruit is and where we can get some.”

The Doctor took the tour guide tablet from the nightstand and made quick work of his research. He learned that kaju, the sea banana, was a favourite food of the Critians. There were several speciality food shops selling it, but only one farm you could tour. He’d just booked two tickets for the morning tour when Rose exited the en suite, wrapped in a fluffy white robe.

“Your turn.”

He handed her the tablet. “Why don’t you find something for us to do this afternoon?” he suggested.

Rose waited until she heard the shower running, then she pulled out the outfit she’d hidden at the bottom of their suitcase. The soft denim of her favourite dark jeans fit her perfectly, moulded by countless wears.

But her top… She sighed when the soft wool jumper brushed against her cheek as she pulled it over her head. The TARDIS had put it in her closet yesterday when she’d been packing, and Rose hadn’t needed help connecting the dots.

She’d just laced up her black boots when someone knocked on the door. “Concierge service!”

Rose walked to the door, leaving her leather jacket draped over the chair. A uniformed employee stood on the other side of the door, a tray in hand.

“Hi!”

The concierge held out the tray and Rose took the envelope. “Your tickets to the underwater garden just arrived,” they said.

Rose blinked, then she shook her head. “I don’t suppose that’s where those delicious sea bananas are grown.”

As she asked, she heard the shower turn off. She started a mental countdown to when the Doctor would appear.

The Critian tilted their head, a hint of confusion crossing their face. “If by sea bananas, you mean kaju… then yes, this the one public farm where it is grown. After the tour, you will be able to buy some of the fruit to take home.”

Rose laughed. “I bet we will. Thank you,” she told the alien. The employee bowed and exited the room.

“Who was that?” the Doctor called from their bedroom.

“Concierge services with our tour tickets,” Rose replied.

“Oooh, excellent! I hope they have a little shop. A little shop to buy all the kaju we want! Can you imagine, Rose?”

“I’m pretty sure I won’t need to use my imagination by the end of the day,” Rose said under her breath.

“I heard that!” The Doctor’s voice was coming closer, and Rose rubbed her palms on her jeans. “I’ll have you know…”

His mouth fell open when he saw what she was wearing. From a man as verbose as him, his silence was extremely gratifying. “Doctor?”

The Doctor slowly lowered his hands from his tie and walked towards her. His eyes were dark, and anticipation buzzed through Rose as she waited for his response. “That jumper is mine,” he said, his voice raspy.

Rose bit back a smirk. “The TARDIS put it in my closet,” she told him. “Think that means it’s mine now—possession is nine-tenths of the law, after all.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed.

The sleeves hung past her wrists, and Rose pressed her wool-covered hand to her cheek. “‘Sides, I like it. It’s soft.”

His fingers twitched, and Rose waited just a second longer before smiling brightly at him. “Come on, we need to get going if we’re going to make our tour.”

The Doctor gaped at her—at Rose, standing just six feet away from him, wearing clothes that used to be his. Rose, who was now giving him a cheeky smile as she waved the tickets in front of his face.

“Don’t you want to go see the kaju farm?” she asked, almost managing to sound innocent.

He growled and moved quickly to pull Rose into his arms. He could hear her heartbeat speed up and his two hearts held tempo with hers.

“Rose Tyler…”

Her pulse was racing now. “Yes Doctor?” She smiled, teasing him with the tip of her tongue.

The Doctor dipped his head down and pressed his lips to hers, following her tongue back into her mouth. Rose slid her hands over his shoulders and a moment later, he felt them in his hair.

He shivered, and before he could lose himself in the kiss, he slowly pulled back. Rose’s eyes fluttered open, and her passion-glazed expression tempted him again.

Instead, he slowly removed his hands from her waist, tugging on the hem of the jumper as he pulled away. “We’ll come back to this later,” he promised.

She blinked a few times, then smiled up at him. “Oh, yes,” she agreed.

The Doctor took her hand. “But for now, kaju!” Rose laughed as he pulled her out of their suite, and he giggled along with her.

Rose hip checked the Doctor as they left the hotel. He glanced down at her, his eyebrow raised in question. She smiled and shifted closer to him, putting her free hand on his arm.

_Nothing. Just love you, that’s all._

_Yeah? I love you too._

The Critias streets were busier than they had been the day before, and they arrived at the garden entrance just as the tour was starting. “Wait wait!” The Doctor waved their tickets over his head. “Two more!”

A teenager waved at them from behind the counter. “I can take your tickets!” she said, her high ponytail bobbing with each word. She smiled brightly when the Doctor handed them over. “Have fun! Corin will show you all around the farm.”

They joined the queue, and a young man with a shock of black hair draped over one eye scowled at them. “We all ready then?” he asked.

“Oh yes!” The Doctor bounced on his toes. “This is going to be the highlight of our trip.”

The guide rolled his eyes and turned around. “Come on. The entrance to the tunnels is this way.”

“Tunnels?” Rose asked as he led them along a boring hallway.

He shot her a look over his shoulder. “Well yeah. Kaju grows under the sea. How did you think we were going to get there?”

Rose had half a mind to call him out for his surly attitude, but the Doctor started talking before she could. “I bet you love your job,” he enthused. “You probably get all the kaju you want, for free.”

The kid huffed. “Why would I want any of that nasty stuff?”

They reached a glass door in the exterior bubble of the city, and he turned around and held his hand up. “All right, listen up everyone!” he called out, raising his voice to be heard over the hum of machinery coming from the next room over. “We have built glass tunnels in a path around the kaju beds. Along the tour, you will see kaju in various stages of growth. At the end, you will have a chance to taste fresh kaju, and to buy any of the products we make in the factory you hear behind you.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows. “Please stay with the group at all times. If you do not, you will be escorted out of the tunnels and asked to leave the premises.”

The whole group murmured their assent, and he grunted and opened the doors.

The light in the tunnel was dim. Rose squinted, trying to get a glimpse of the garden before stepping out under the sea. She and the Doctor were at the back of the line, and she gasped when she finally realised why the light was so eerie.

The glass tunnel had formed an arbor for a network of tangled vines. The artificial lights used by the farm filtered through the greenery, like sunlight through the leaves of a thick forest. Rose pressed her hand to the glass and watched the way the leaves drifted in the current.

“Why don’t you like kaju?”

Rose blinked; that was the Doctor’s voice, but it was coming from the other side of the tour group. She looked around and spotted him standing next to their guide, his eyebrow arched in surprise.

Corin was a good six inches shorter than the Doctor, and he scowled up at him. “Because it’s a disgusting fruit and I don’t know why anyone would eat it.”

Determination pulsed over the bond, and Rose groaned. “Excuse me,” she said as she made her way through the tour group to join the Doctor.

“Have you ever had kaju pancakes?” the Doctor asked. “Or kaju toffee pie?”

The kid sneered. “No, thank you.”

He spun on his heel and addressed the whole group. “What you see above you is an arbor of fully grown kaju. As you can see, the plant is a vine that needs some sort of support to grow on. If you’ll follow me, our next stop is a bed of kaju seedlings.”

The group moved slowly through the tunnel. The light changed as the vines overhead thinned. Finally they entered a large, round room, big enough for everyone to look out at the ocean floor.

“Like most vines, kaju can be grown from starts. However, one of the things we sell as a commercial garden are seedlings. Ambitious gardeners buy kaju plants from us to start their own garden.”

“Oh!”

Corin levelled a glare at the Doctor. “They do have to be grown under the ocean, so unless you have a proper growing environment, don’t even bother.”

The Doctor pressed his tongue to the back of his teeth. “Right. Yeah,” he said slowly.

Rose narrowed her eyes. _We’ve got regular bananas, remember?_ She wasn’t sure the TARDIS could make an underwater room, and even if she could, Rose had no desire to start a kaju farm.

The Doctor pouted, but she shook her head firmly. _Bananas are perfectly good._

_Bananas are brilliant!_ he corrected. Rose raised an eyebrow and the Doctor rolled his eyes. _All right, you win._

They were given five minutes to watch the gardeners carefully tend to the young plants, then Corin led them down another tunnel into a different open room.

Row after row of vines draped over arbors spread out around them. “These kaju plants are at the height of their production cycle. Much of the kaju you eat comes from plants just like these.”

The group murmured and spread out to watch the workers carefully trimming the vines and harvesting ripe fruit. Rose blinked when she realised the whole fruit was small and round. It looked much more like an orange than a banana.

“What about fried kaju? Or kaju served with ice cream and chocolate?”

Rose debated pulling the Doctor back, but Corin really deserved to be pestered. He had been rude from the moment the tour started. So instead, she rocked back on her heels and watched.

“I can’t stand the smell, or the taste, or the texture,” the kid spat out. “The seeds get stuck in your teeth and if you eat too much, it stains your tongue bright pink.”

The Doctor backed away half a step and blinked several times. Corin nodded sharply and spun around to walk away.

Rose joined the Doctor then and tugged on his sleeve before he could chase after the kid. _You can suggest other preparations later,_ she told him, feeling slightly mischievous. _Maybe he should try kaju bread, or chocolate dipped kaju._

The Doctor nodded, then stuck his tongue out for her to examine. “Ish ma tongue bwight pink?” he asked.

Rose laughed. “Nope, just regular pink. Apparently you haven’t had enough kaju yet.”

It was mesmerising to look at the evenly laid out rows of kaju and the careful way the attendants cared for the vines. But after ten minutes, they were directed down another tunnel, back to a door.

“The garden part of our tour is over,” Corin declared dramatically. “Behind this door, you’ll find the factory where we produce kaju jam and other items for sale. Please take a pair of noise cancelling headphones when you step inside. The machines are incredibly loud.”

Rose winced when he opened the door. The entire group pressed their hands to their ears until they passed through the door and could take a pair of the headphones.

_How are we supposed to hear the dulcet tones of our tour guide like this?_

She needn’t have worried. His grumpy voice came through the headphones, and when she looked at him, she realised his headset had a microphone as well.

“Today we’re manufacturing kaju pie filling,” he said, gesturing at the conveyor belt where empty glass jars were filled with a creamy, kaju coloured filling. “The filling is produced in that large vat over there.” He pointed up at a vat near the top of the production line. “Raw kaju is cooked down and blended, then sugar and spices are added.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Rose saw the Doctor nodding. She shook her head; she had a feeling there was a kaju pie in their future.

They watched the assembly line for a few minutes longer. After the jars were filled with pie filling, lids were tightly sealed on and labels wrapped on the jar. Then they shot down to the end of the line where they were packed in boxes by workers.

“If you’ll follow me.”

The tour group slowly filtered out of the factory back into the blessedly quiet hallway. Two employees were waiting, one ready to take the headphones from them and another with a tray of sliced kaju.

Corin opened the door to the sales room and gestured through it. “That concludes our tour. You are now free to buy as much kaju merchandise as you would like.”

The Doctor sidled up to him. “Have you ever tried kaju bread?” he asked.

The young man’s face turned red, but the Doctor ignored it.

“What about chocolate dipped kaju? Dip slices in chocolate and then freeze them. Fantastic treat for a hot day.” He paused and scratched his sideburn. “Er, is it ever hot here?”

“Listen,” Corin growled. “I do not like kaju. I will never like kaju. It doesn’t matter how it’s prepared, it’s a vile fruit and I refuse to eat it.” He smirked suddenly. “But if you like it so much…”

He ran off quickly before the Doctor could say anything. A moment later he was back with a jar in his hand. “Kaju jam.” He ran off again and returned with two large tubs. “Kaju butter and kaju yogurt.” He left and came back with bags in hand. “Kaju fruit leather, chocolate covered kaju, and dried kaju.”

The Doctor’s arms were full. He stared down at the bounty then up at the guide. “Thank you!”

The uncharacteristic smile melted away into the familiar scowl. “You are an absolute nutter,” the kid growled. Then he spun around and stalked off.

The Doctor heard something rolling on the floor and turned around to see Rose with a trolley. She took a few items out of his hands and they filled the cart with everything the guide had brought.

“What was that about?” the Doctor asked, still wondering what had gotten into the guide.

Rose laughed. “I think he thought that if he brought you enough kaju products, you would realise it was disgusting. Then you’d have to find a way to put it all back.”

“Huh.” The Doctor scratched at his sideburn. “Well, let’s see what other kaju products we can find.”

Thirty minutes later, they left the farm with several bags full of kaju products. By mutual agreement, they detoured to the TARDIS to put it all away.

The ship sang to Rose as they walked through the door, and she started laughing. “Someone’s glad I talked you out of growing our own kaju,” she told the Doctor.

oOoOo

The street lights had shifted from their bright daytime mode to a nighttime setting when the Doctor and Rose finally made their way back to the hotel. Street musicians played beneath the street lights, and stray cats darted into the shadowy corners to hide.

The Doctor swiped their keycard over the pad and the door slid open. It closed silently behind them after they entered the room. Rose tapped the lamp and soft light filled the room.

“So was that a good way to spend our fourth anniversary?”she asked him.

He chuckled. “It was a brilliant way to spend our anniversary,” he agreed as he shrugged out of his coat.

He had just tossed it onto the coat rack when someone knocked sharply on the door. Rose raised an eyebrow, and he grinned at her. “Just a little late night snack I ordered for us,” he told her. “Why don’t you go get settled in the living room and I’ll bring it in.” He waited for her to move into the living room, then tapped the door control.

“Your dessert, sir,” the server said, presenting a covered tray with a flourish.

The Doctor lifted the silver cover just enough to make sure everything was as ordered. _Chocolate, kaju, mellora berries, and a decanted bottle of Rigellian wine. Perfect._

“Thank you.” He took the tray and the server nodded once, then walked away.

Rose was curled up on the sofa under a blanket when the Doctor entered the living room. He set the tray down on the coffee table and crossed the room to the fireplace controls. “This will warm things up pretty quickly,” he said once the cheery gaslit flames started.

He stuck his tongue out at Rose as he walked back to her. “I suppose it’s a good thing you filched that jumper from me,” he teased. “They don’t exactly keep the ambient temperature of Critias very warm.”

He started to pour two glasses of the wine, while still watching Rose from the corner of his eye. She rubbed her cheek against the jumper again and shook her head.

“That’s not why I wore it,” she said quietly.

The Doctor set the decanter down and turned to face Rose. Her playful attitude had faded into something softer and warmer. “Then why did you wear it?” he asked, genuinely curious. “To turn me on?”

Her eyes twinkled. “A little. But mostly…” She reached for his hand. “This jumper is something from who you were when I met you. Today’s our anniversary and…” She brushed her thumb over his pulse points. “And I married that Doctor, too.”

The Doctor opened his mouth, but he couldn’t push words past the lump in his throat. Instead, he slid closer to Rose on the sofa and reached for her over the bond at the same time.

_I love you._ He brushed his fingers over her cheek, and when Rose tipped her face upwards, he took the invitation and pressed a kiss to her lips. _I love you now and I loved you then. You are my forever, both past and future._

Rose sighed and scraped her fingernails over his scalp. _I loved that you, with your leather jacket and jumpers. I love this you, with your suits and Chucks. You have always been my Doctor._

The Doctor moved his hand down to Rose’s waist so he could pull her closer. As she shifted into his lap, the feeling of soft skin under his hand pulled him out of the kiss. He looked down at the bare leg slung over his own and swallowed.

“Are you…” His voice squeaked and he cleared his throat. “Are you wearing anything under that jumper?”

Rose slid her hands over his shoulders and played with the hair at the nape of his neck. “Why don’t you find out?” she suggested.

The Doctor closed his eyes and took several shallow breaths. Then he shifted his weight and pushed himself to his feet, holding Rose close as he stood up. “I think it’s time for a change in venue.”

oOoOo

A visit to Critias was almost like a beach holiday, except in all the ways it wasn’t. Their ocean view room gave them a view into the underwater life instead of the surface. They didn’t see their squid friend again, but several other forms of sea life floated by to say hello.

They rented diving equipment and went out into the water, but they couldn’t feel the sun on their faces. The marine animals around the resort were so accustomed to visitors that they didn’t move as the Doctor and Rose slowly swam past.

But the strangest difference, and the one that helped Rose when it came time to leave, was that there were no sunsets. She loved watching the sun set over the ocean, but they couldn’t even see the sun from who knew how many leagues under the sea.

There were no stars, either, and after a week beneath the surface of the ocean, both she and the Doctor were ready to be out in the open air.

They packed up their belongings and paid their bill, then walked back to the TARDIS.

The Doctor slung his coat over a strut and circled the console, adjusting the navigation controls as he went. “Be careful,” Rose warned as he spun a dial wildly before stopping it and twisting it into place. “Remember what Donna threatened to do if we don’t pick them up on time.”

He clapped his hands to his head, protecting his hair. “That is not happening,” he declared adamantly. “Not in this lifetime. This body would _not_ look good with platinum blond hair.”

Rose nodded. “Then watch what you’re doing while you’re setting the coordinates.”

The Doctor huffed, but he slowed down, being careful to notch each dial in exactly the right spot. Rose watched, and she nodded when he set the last one in place.

“All right, let’s go.” Being closer to the dematerialisation lever, she grabbed it and shoved it into place.

The TARDIS made a grinding sound as she moved into the Vortex, and Rose stroked the console. “Come on, old girl,” she muttered. “I know you’ll take us where we need to go.” The grinding didn’t stop, but a soft hum joined it. Both Rose and the Doctor let out a breath.

The landing rocked them a little, but they straightened up and walked to the door. The Doctor reached it first and reached for the handle. “Come on, Rose. Let’s enjoy the look on Donna’s face when she realises we’ve made a perfect landing.”

The first thing he registered when he opened the door was that it was night. _Well, a few hours off,_ he reasoned, even as his hearts sank into his plimsolls. _Maybe we’re early, even._

But not only was it not morning, they were nowhere near a city. He stared at the large house in front of them, trying to make sense of where they were.

Rose patted him on the arm. “I think you’ll look gorgeous as a blond.”


	3. A Crack in a Wall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we finally tie back into the epilogue from Forever and Never Apart.

The Doctor felt the turn of the Earth beneath his feet, but he still shook his head. “This isn’t possible,” he protested. “I set the coordinates. You saw me. I set them right!”

Rose wrapped her arm around his waist and hugged him. “Yeah, but then I told the TARDIS to take us where we need to go.”

He wheeled and pointed at her. “Ah-hah! Then this is your fault! Donna can bleach _your_ hair!”

She raised her eyebrow. “I’m already blonde.” A light evening breeze lifted a few strands of hair from her neck, illustrating her point.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Then she can dye it some other colour.”

Rose clasped her hands behind her back and smiled up at him. “What about red? I could be ginger.”

The Doctor pouted. “Now that is just not nice.”

Rose smirked at him, then shook her head and looked around. “I wonder why she brought us here.”

The Doctor blinked. He hadn’t really considered that, in all his aggravation over his impending hair disaster. They were on Earth, but beyond that, he had no idea where or why.

He turned in a circle, taking in the details around them. A garden shed, an old bench, children’s toys that looked mostly abandoned… He looked back at the house, with the tall hedge lining the fence.

The porch light turned on, and he quickly tried to think of an explanation for being in someone’s garden at… nine o’clock at night. A moment later, the door opened and a young girl ran outside, a red cardigan pulled on over her nightgown.

The girl stopped about five feet away from them and swung her torch back and forth, shining it on all of them. Rose’s heart tugged when she saw the way she bit at her lower lip.

_She’s worried about something,_ she told the Doctor. _I bet this is why the TARDIS took us off course._

He snorted. _She did that because she’s decrepit with a twisted sense of humour._

Rose poked him in the side, but she couldn’t tell if that was what made him wince, or the whistle of indignation from the TARDIS.

She offered a smile to the girl. “Hello, I’m Rose, and this is the Doctor. Sorry for popping into your garden like this.”

The girl shook her head quickly, making her red hair float around her shoulders. “Are you from the police?” she asked bluntly, her words coloured by a strong Scottish brogue.

Rose narrowed her eyes at the question, and beside her, she felt the Doctor tense. “Why?” he asked. “Did you call the police?”

She huffed, and Rose had to hide her smile at the exasperation of getting a question in answer to a question. Her smile disappeared with the girl’s _next_ question.

“Did you come about the man in my wall?”

“Did you say _in_ your wall?” Rose repeated.

The girl nodded, but the rest of her answer was interrupted by the sound of a gate opening and closing, and then footsteps rushing towards them. A moment later, a boy about the same age appeared, also dressed in pyjamas.

“I heard voices and then looked out my window and saw you talking to… to…” He waved his arm vaguely in their direction. “What’s going on, Amy? Who are these people?”

“This is Rose and the Doctor. They’re here about the voice in my wall.” The girl’s eyes flicked from Rose to the boy. “I think.”

“We are,” Rose assured her. “But first, will you tell us your names?”

“Amelia. Amelia Pond.” She glanced at her friend. “Only Rory calls me Amy.”

“Pond?” the Doctor murmured, and he and Rose shared a significant look. Melody Pond had told them her mum was Scottish. Unless they happened to meet another Scotswoman named Pond, their timelines had just intersected. “That’s a good name. Brilliant, actually.”

Amelia blinked a few times, and in the momentary confusion, Rose turned to the boy. “And you’re Rory?” she asked.

He nodded, but Amelia was the one who answered. “Rory’s my best friend. He lives next door.”

“Nice to meet you.” The Doctor smiled at Amelia and then Rory, before looking back at Amelia. “Now. Amelia.” She tilted her head to look up at him. “I have some questions about the man in your wall. If we go inside, will your parents wake up?”

She shook her head. “They went out to the movie.”

“And they left you alone?” Rose asked.

Amelia wrinkled her nose. “I’m not scared to be alone,” she said hotly. “And I can call Rory’s mum and dad if anything happens.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Nothing ever happens in Leadworth anyway.”

“Bit different from London,” Rose mumbled to herself. Even when Jackie had to work late, she hadn’t been left alone in the flat at Amelia’s age.

“Right,” the Doctor said briskly. “Good. Let’s go inside then, shall we?” He pointed to the open door, and Amelia led the way.

The single light hung over the kitchen table. After standing outside for several minutes, the brightness was almost too glaring. The Doctor and Rose sat down side by side, and after exchanging a wary look, Amelia and Rory sat down across from them.

“What can you tell us about the man in your wall, Amelia?”

There wasn’t an ounce of scepticism or condescension in the Doctor’s voice, and both children’s postures relaxed.

“I can hear his voice sometimes.” She shivered. “He sounds… scared.”

Rory took over the story. “We’ve tried telling our parents, but they all say we’re just imagining it. But we know it’s real.”

The Doctor shook his head. “Of course it’s real. Grown-ups like to think they know everything, but really they’re—”

Rose nudged him gently over the bond, and he cleared his throat. “But that’s not what we’re here for. How long ago did you start hearing him?”

“Two weeks—”

Amelia cut Rory off. “Three weeks ago.” She looked over at him. “It was before your birthday, remember?”

“Can you tell what he’s saying?” Rose asked, hoping for some kind of clue.

But they both shook their heads. “It sounds… He keeps getting cut off,” Rory said slowly. “Like he starts to say something but he never finishes it.”

The Doctor tugged on his ear. “Interesting.” He stared at the ceiling for a moment, then placed his hands on the table and stood up. “I think I need to see this wall of yours, Amelia.”

Amelia led them back to the hall, then up the narrow staircase. As they climbed the stairs, the Doctor asked a question that had been nagging at the back of his mind. “Are we in England or Scotland?”

Amelia huffed, giving him the answer before she even spoke. “England. It’s rubbish.”

“Oi!” Rory protested.

“It’s just not the same.”

The Doctor hummed in agreement. “I haven’t been home in a long time, either,” he said. “I know exactly what you mean.”

They reached the top of the stairs, and she turned the corner to go down the hallway to the back of the house. There were two doors off the hallway, one of them partway open. The Doctor assumed that must be Amelia’s room.

They followed her into the room, and he turned in a circle, pointing at all the walls. “Which wall is the man in, Amelia?” he asked.

She pointed at the wall opposite the door. “That one. My mum and dad have tried to tell me it’s just the wind in the trees or something, because that’s the outside wall of the house.”

“No trees outside that wall though,” the Doctor murmured. He stared at the wall. It seemed like an ordinary bedroom wall, but the hairs on the backs of his hands were standing up. There was something here, something familiar that he couldn’t quite place.

He pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and pointed it at the wall. “I wonder…” He scanned a sixteen square foot section. The sonic beeped, and he looked at the results. “Interesting.”

“What’s interesting?”

The Doctor looked down at Amelia, who had snuck up beside him without him noticing. She pointed at the sonic.

“What is that thing, Doctor?”

The Doctor lowered his arm and let her look at the sonic. “It’s called a sonic screwdriver. I used it to scan your wall so I can find out where the voice is coming from.”

“And what did you find out, Doctor?” Rory asked.

The Doctor looked at Rose. “I know we thought we’d gotten them all, but I think we’ve found another lingering side effect of the Reality Bomb.”

“A reality what?” Amelia said.

“Reality Bomb,” the Doctor repeated. He stepped forward and ran his fingers over the wall.

Amelia crossed her arms and tilted her head back to stare at the Doctor. “Do you mean like, someone tried to blow up reality or something?”

The Doctor nodded, choosing to ignore her derision. “Pretty much.” He looked back at Rose. “This isn’t just a little fissure, either. It’s a full crack opening up to the Void.”

“What do you mean, a crack?” Amelia asked.

“A crack in the walls between the worlds.” The Doctor paced in front of the wall. That was what was so eerily familiar about the energy radiating from Amelia’s wall. It felt just like the breach had when he’d pressed himself up against the wall at Torchwood.

“Have either of you heard of parallel universes?”

She shook her head, but Rory nodded. “I’ve read about them in my comic books. Other worlds like ours, where things are just a little bit different.”

Rose nodded. “Exactly. And they’re real. There are millions of other universes out there.”

“And there are walls between the universes,” the Doctor continued. “Walls that keep one reality from seeping into another.” He rubbed at his jaw. “Only sometimes, they get little cracks in them. That Reality Bomb I mentioned damaged the walls, and we’ve been checking to make sure they’re all fixed.”

Amelia looked at her wall, then at the Doctor. “So this… this man in my wall, he might be from another world?”

“Could be.” The Doctor pressed his hand to the wall. “Or he could have been pulled into the crack from this world.”

“Can you… Can you get him out?” she asked, her voice wavering just slightly. “His voice has been getting quieter. I’m afraid he’s going to be trapped.”

They heard it then—a whisper of sound, a word started but not quite finished, just like Rory had said.

The Doctor pursed his lips and scanned the wall a second time after adjusting the settings just slightly. “You’re right, Amelia,” he said a moment later. “The amount of Void energy in this room has dropped even in the five minutes we’ve been here.”

He stepped back and tugged on his ear. “But how are we going to get you out?” he asked, almost to himself.

The question made Rose’s insides twist with anxiety. She started to call the Doctor’s name, but then saw how both Rory and Amelia were staring at him hopefully.

_Doctor._

He stopped and looked over at her. _What is it, Rose?_

_How do we know it’s not like, a Cyberman or Dalek trying to get out of the Void?_

The Doctor looked at the wall again with narrowed eyes. “I suppose before I go letting you out, I ought to make sure you’re here in peace.”

The knots in Rose’s stomach eased as he adjusted the settings on the sonic and scanned the wall for a third time. “Human,” he told Rose a moment later. “And… hang on, this is a teleport signal.” He rocked back on his heels and stared at the wall. “How did a teleport signal get stuck, of all things?”

“Can you help him?”

The Doctor didn’t turn around when Amelia asked the question they were all wondering. “I don’t know,” he said honestly.

Rose stared at the wall through narrowed eyes. They’d dealt with a teleport signal before… “Can’t you use the sonic to lock onto the teleport signal, like you did with Margaret the Slitheen?”

The Doctor shook his head and started pacing in front of the wall. “The signal is too weak. Either it’s degrading because it’s stuck in the Void, or the Void is blocking me from being able to lock onto it.”

Rose leaned against the wall, and she could feel it then—the Void energy that was pouring into this room. It tugged at her ever so slightly, the dormant Void matter she was still covered in wanting to get back where it belonged.

“Can’t you boost the signal somehow?” she suggested. “Reverse the polarity or something?”

The Doctor shook his head, a slight smile on his lips. “You’re starting to sound like my third self. I was always saying that as if it were the solution to everything.”

He pressed himself against the wall and inched forward, trying to feel where the connection point was thinnest. The vague sense of _wrong_ got stronger as he moved towards Rose. Finally, about a foot away from her, the hairs on his neck stood on end.

He slid his hand up to cover the spot. “Gotcha,” he murmured, with his eyeball scrunched up against the wall. Just to be sure, he scooted a little closer to Rose. As he expected, the sensation faded as he moved away from the weak spot in the walls.

He stepped back, leaving his hand flat against the wall. “I think that if I could boost the sonic signal and direct it right here, I could pull them through. But we need to work fast if we’re going to make it work.”

He looked over his shoulder at Amelia. “Do you have something I can use to write with? A marker, pencil, anything?”

Amelia nodded and darted over to the child’s desk she had underneath the window. They could hear things being shifted around in the drawer, and then she pulled out a marker.

“Perfect.” The Doctor accepted the black marker from her and put an x over the spot he’d detected. “X marks the spot!” he said triumphantly. “Oh, now there’s something we’ve never done! We should go hunting for buried treasure one day, Rose.”

Rose shook her head and laughed. “That sounds like fun,” she agreed. “But today the buried treasure is a man, and you said that we need to hurry if we’re going to help him in time. So… how do we boost that sonic signal?”

“We’ll link our sonics together and use yours as the amplifier.”

She blinked. “You can do that?”

“In theory! But we need to go back to the TARDIS so I can write the code. Allons-y!” He took off running, taking the stairs two at a time.

Rose looked at the kids. “Come on, let’s go.”

They caught up with the Doctor just outside the TARDIS doors. Amelia stopped and put her hands on her hips as she looked up at the door. “If you’re a doctor, why does your box say ‘Police?’”

Rose grinned. If Amelia was still asking good questions like that when she was older, it was no wonder she and the Doctor would invite her to travel with them.

_Of course, there’s also the fact that we ask because we know we’ve asked, which is why Melody didn’t want to tell us about her mum._

The Doctor grinned at her. _Time travel,_ he agreed.

He focused on Amelia, still glaring at him suspiciously. “I’m not a doctor, I’m _the_ Doctor. It’s my name, like Amelia is yours. And it’s not a box. It’s a time machine.”

Amelia’s forehead wrinkled into the dubious frown that was already familiar. “What, a real one? You’ve got a _real_ time machine?”

“I do.” The Doctor slid the key into the lock. “Would you like to see?”

He pushed the door open and stepped aside to let the kids go in first. Rose walked in after them and waited.

“But this is impossible,” Amelia said. “Your box can’t be bigger on the inside.”

“But it is,” the Doctor countered.

“But it can’t be,” Amelia insisted.

“Is the inside in a different dimension?” Rory asked.

The Doctor gaped at him. “You… you are eight years old,” he stuttered. “How did you… Grown adults have never figured that out.”

Amelia took Rory’s hand. “He reads lots of science fiction magazines,” she said. All of her refusal to believe what her eyes were seeing had disappeared as soon as Rory explained it.

“But… You’re supposed to be amazed, to wonder how it works! You’re not supposed to _know._ ”

“Doctor, you said we were running out of time,” Amelia said.

“Right, yes.” The Doctor ran his hand through his hair, trying to return his focus to the man stuck in the wall and not the seeming impossibility of an eight year old boy understanding the TARDIS.

“Thank you, Amelia Pond. That’s a brilliant name by the way,” he added as he started coding the new program that would allow him to combine the signals on the two screwdrivers into one that would be strong enough to bring this man back from the Void.

Rose shook her head. “Come on,” she told the kids. “Let’s have a snack while we let him work.”

The TARDIS hummed as they walked down the corridor, and Rose wasn’t surprised when there were three cups of cocoa and a plate of biscuits waiting for them when they reached the galley.

The kids didn’t need any further coercion to convince them to sit down.

Amy took a sip of cocoa, then set her mug down and leaned her elbows on the table. “Is he _really_ a doctor?” she asked. “Because he seems like he’s just a madman in a box.”

“Amy!”

Rose’s laughter cut off Rory’s appalled cry. “Amelia Pond,” she said, handing the girl a biscuit, “you might have summed up the Doctor better than anyone.” She winked. “But he really is a doctor.”

Amelia took a bite of the biscuit, and Rose waited. She swallowed, then shrugged and drank more of her cocoa. “All right.”

Rose sighed. The ease with which both Amelia and Rory accepted what they could tell to be true was charming. Adults would spend the whole night trying to explain how this couldn’t possibly be happening. Amelia and Rory just accepted it and moved on.

Amelia tilted her head, and Rose waited for her next question. “Is that a wolf?” she asked, pointing at Rose’s necklace.

Rose held it out. “Yeah, it is. They’re kind of… well, a bit special to me. The Doctor gave this to me for our third anniversary.”

Amy touched the gold detailing around the eyes. “It’s really pretty,” she declared.

“Thanks, I think so too.”

_I’m ready whenever you are._

Rose pushed back from the table. “I think the Doctor is done,” she said.

oOoOo

The Doctor rocked back on his heels and studied what he’d done. In theory, it should work. His screwdriver would act as the primary device, originating the signal that would pull the man out of Amelia’s wall. Rose’s would amplify the signal, creating a deeper resonance that would allow the signal to travel through the walls and into the Void, bringing the man back.

In theory. He’d never written a program for the sonic that tied together the abilities of two devices—mostly because he’d never had two sonics at his disposal.

_But what’s life without a little adventure?_ he thought whimsically. He pulled his sonic out of his pocket and tossed it in the air once before inserting it into the port. He tapped Rose’s against his palm impatiently while he waited for the program to load, and then swapped them out as soon as the blue diode lit up.

_I’m ready whenever you are,_ he told Rose, knowing the TARDIS would be done writing the program before she, Amelia, and Rory made it back to the console room.

He heard footsteps in the corridor just as Rose’s sonic lit up violet. He pulled it out, then spun and tossed it at Rose as she entered the console room.

She caught it one-handed and shot him a cheeky smile. “Ta.”

“Well, everyone,” the Doctor said as he bounded up the ramp. “Who’s ready to rescue the mystery man stuck in Amelia’s wall?” He opened the door gestured towards the house.

Rose let Amelia and Rory race outside first, then she followed and closed the door behind her. The Doctor was already inside the house, and she jogged across the garden to catch up.

When they were standing in front of the wall again, Rose looked at the Doctor. “All right, how is this going to work?”

He flipped his screwdriver and adjusted the settings. “First, let’s do a quick status check.”

He ran the sonic over the area of the wall where they could most clearly hear the voice. He looked at the sonic, then at the wall and back again, gulping hard at the readings.

_What’s wrong?_ Rose asked.

His gaze darted from her back to the sonic. _The crack is closing faster than I thought it would,_ he told her. _If this doesn’t work, I won’t have time to think of another brilliant plan._

“Are we too late?” Amelia asked.

The Doctor let out his breath slowly, then shook his head. “Not yet.” Amelia didn’t look convinced, so he held out his hand. “Come here. Let’s save him together.”

Rory walked over with Amelia, and Rose took one of his hands. The Doctor adjusted his sonic back to the new setting, then took Amelia’s hand.

“Ready?”

“Ready,” all three of them said.

The Doctor pointed his sonic at the blank wall and activated the new setting. The hum was slightly lower pitched than most settings, echoing at a lower harmonic level to better get through the walls between the worlds.

A moment later, Rose’s sonic started too. The tone changed again, this time to something louder, sounding almost like an engine grinding—sounding, actually, a little like the TARDIS.

“It’s working,” the Doctor muttered. “It’s penetrating the walls between the worlds. Now if it will just lock onto that teleport signal…”

He heard everyone in the room take a deep breath and hold it. The blue and violet lights from the sonics cast a deep purple glow in the room, and he crossed his fingers for a result as magical as the light effect.

Rose stared at the wall. She thought she could see something, but she didn’t know if it was real, or just wishful thinking. But then the shimmery presence slowly solidified, first becoming the outline of a man.

“Yay!!” Amelia and Rory let go of their hands and did a little dance in the middle of the room.

Nerves coursed through Rose, and she wanted to bounce on her toes to get some of the energy out. She didn’t dare move though, unsure what would happen if the signal from her sonic got interrupted somehow.

Instead, she satisfied herself with a victorious fist pump and a hissed, “Yes!” as she watched the outline fill in. The man was tall, about as tall as the Doctor, but not as slim. Something about that sounded familiar, and she narrowed her eyes to catch more details.

_Dark hair, black trousers and a black jumper…_

When the outline of his prominent ears filled in, she knew. “Oh my god,” Rose whispered. “Oh my god!” she yelled.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Doctor’s gaze swing over to her, but she ignored him. If she was right about who this man was, then this was the most incredible coincidence she’d ever witnessed.

Finally, the signal ended and he was safely on this side of the Void. And now there was no doubt in Rose’s mind.

“Lee McAvoy,” she breathed.

The tall man tilted his head and studied her. “D-Do I know you?” He squinted at her, and his eyes widened. “You were with Jenny in the Library!”

“Hang on,” the Doctor interrupted. “Lee McAvoy? As in Donna’s Lee, the one we have been scanning the entire universe for for the last five months?”

Rose noticed the dull red moving up Lee’s neck when the Doctor called him Donna’s Lee, and she wanted to rub her hands together gleefully. This was every romantic fantasy come to life. She’d always wanted to play the fairy godmother matchmaker, and now she could.

“Where’s Donna?” Lee asked, pushing the words out so quickly that they didn’t have time to get caught in his stammer.

“She and Jenny are on Barcelona, taking a holiday,” Rose said. “We were just on our way to pick them up when we were brought here instead. Amelia said she had a man in her wall, and the rest…” She shrugged.

“Hang on,” Amelia said impatiently. “You _know_ him?”

Rose coughed and covered her mouth to hide her smile. Amelia sounded positively indignant that they knew more about the man that had been in _her wall_ than they did. And from the perspective of a seven year old, she couldn’t really blame her.

“Welllll…” The Doctor rocked back on his heels and took a breath.

Rose leapt into the opening. This wasn’t really the time for one of his rambles, as much as she loved those.

“Kinda,” she said. “Our friend Donna met him once, but they lost touch. We’ve been helping her look for him.”

“Y-y-you have?” Lee asked, his eyes wide and hopeful.

“Yep!” The Doctor bounced on his toes and gestured at the door. “And I don’t think we should keep her waiting any longer, do you?”

As they tramped down the stairs and out into the garden one last time, Rose was aware that Amelia and Rory were trailing after them. Even though she knew they couldn’t come with them right now, she didn’t have the heart to force them to stay inside. The adventure was almost done, and they would have to wait years to enter the TARDIS again.

The Doctor stuck the key in the TARDIS door and looked over his shoulder at Lee. “Your ride awaits,” he said, pushing the door open and letting his new guest take in the cavernous console room.

Lee walked through the door and stopped, turning his head every direction. The Doctor grinned, waiting for it. This was his favourite part of getting a new companion.

“This is a T-T-TARDIS,” Lee said, quiet and matter-of-fact. He turned around and looked at the Doctor and Rose. “Which makes you…” His mouth worked, and then he took a deep breath. “Time Lords,” he concluded, the t sounding almost violent.

The Doctor gaped at him. “But… You… How??”

“Doctor, I thought you said that grown adults don’t even know what your box is.”

He turned and glared at Amelia. “Yes, thank you, Amelia. Apparently, everyone knows what a TARDIS is and is never surprised by the fact that she is bigger on the inside.”

Lee arched an eyebrow, and the Doctor had the upsetting feeling that he was _smirking_ at him. “I’m a…” He swallowed. “Time Agent,” he explained.

Rose pumped her fist. “I knew it!” she crowed.

The Doctor was grateful Lee at least looked surprised by that exclamation. “How?”

Rose bounced in place, a wide grin on her face. “We tried to track you using the metadata from your biochip,” she explained. “But yours was mostly blank—it just had your picture. And I said that maybe you were a Time Agent.”

Lee nodded. “I was there on a mission.” He lifted one shoulder. “I guess the Library is still a mystery.”

“We can give you the full story, if you’d like,” the Doctor offered. “Or Donna can. Help you fill out that mission report—I know what a bear those can be.”

Lee grimaced, and the Doctor and Rose laughed in commiseration.

When the laughter stopped, the three adults looked at each other, none of them knowing what to say next.

“Right, well, I suppose we should be going,” the Doctor said after an awkward pause.

“Can I come?”

The Doctor sighed. It was the question he’d been dreading most of the evening. Rose took his hand and squeezed, and he thanked her silently before squatting down to look the girl in the eye.

“Amelia, we can’t take you with us. If your mum and dad came home and you were gone, think how upset they’d be.”

Amelia sighed and scuffed her toe against the grass.

He dropped his head to hold her gaze as she tried to look away. “And if we came back with you, imagine what they’d think of us. You’d never convince them we hadn’t kidnapped you—and I wouldn’t blame them for thinking that.”

“But you said it’s a time machine,” Amelia protested. “You could take us with you now and bring us back before morning.”

“Yes, well…” The Doctor tugged on his ear. “She is a time machine, but precision landings aren’t exactly her specialty. We might aim for tomorrow morning and land in twelve years. And then where would we be?”

“In jail for kidnapping,” Rory said.

“Exactly,” Rose agreed.

“But I want to come with you and have more adventures,” Amelia protested.

The Doctor and Rose looked at each other, both at a loss of what to say. Amelia Pond would travel with them someday, they knew that much. But how could they get her to stay home today without giving away her future?

The Doctor looked from Rose to Amelia, his meaning clear. He’d tried to convince the young girl to stay home; it was Rose’s turn.

“Amelia…”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re going to say no,” she said, her lips turning down into a pout. “Grown ups always say no when they say your name like that.”

Rose sighed, but before she could make a second attempt, they heard voices coming down the lane. “My mum and da!” she whispered. “The film must be over.” She glanced at the Doctor and Rose, then at the lane. “Bye!”

Rose watched as she and Rory both ran back to their homes. Then she closed the door behind her and nodded at the Doctor. “Let’s go, before the Ponds call the actual police on us,” she suggested.

The Doctor threw the lever and grinned at their passenger. “Lee McAvoy. Someone has been waiting to see you.”


	4. At Last

Chapter Four: At Last

The Doctor looked at Lee as the TARDIS spun slowly in the Vortex. “I’ve got the coordinates all set. Are you ready to see Donna again?”

Lee nodded. “Please.”

The Doctor flipped the lever, and the time rotor moved up and down with its typical grinding, wheezing sound. Lee shook his head, amazement etched across his features. He studied the TARDIS like someone who’d heard about them all his life and couldn’t believe he was finally seeing one.

“Just n-never thought I would be inside a TARDIS,” he explained when Rose looked at him questioningly.

Rose reached out and patted the central column. “Put on a good show for him, dear.”

The TARDIS lights flashed, and they spun through time and space at a dizzying speed. The ship landed hard enough to send them all to the grating. Everyone laughed, no one harder than Lee.

The Doctor jumped up and brushed himself off. “Let’s go see what Donna and Jenny are up to,” he said, jogging up the ramp.

Rose’s phone chimed, and the Doctor had a sinking feeling he knew what the incoming message said. He waited for Rose to read it, and her sigh confirmed his fears.

“Oi, Sunshine. When we said a week, we meant an Earth week, as in seven days. You’re late.”

“Oh… this is bad.” The Doctor ran his hand through his hair. He could already feel the bleach burning his scalp.

“What’s wrong?” Lee asked.

“We landed a day later than we promised to meet Jenny and Donna,” Rose said as she typed out the text and hit send. She looked up in time to see Lee smile and shake his head. “What?”

“Just imaging Donna’s reaction.”

oOoOo

Donna was in the middle of telling Jenny exactly what she planned to say to the Doctor when her phone chimed with a text notification.

“Oh, that better be them,” she muttered as she fished it out of her purse.

_Sorry we’re late,_ Rose said. _We brought something for you._

Donna snorted. “If they think some little rinky-dink souvenir is going to make me forget they actually did strand us, they need to think again.” She picked up her bag and tossed a note on the table to cover the bill. “Come on, Jenny.”

They could see the TARDIS from the edge of the park, and Donna unconsciously picked up her pace. At the moment, she couldn’t tell if she were more eager to be home, or to give the Doctor a piece of her mind. Either way, she was glad to see the TARDIS.

When they were about ten feet away, the Doctor stuck his head out of the TARDIS. “Are you coming?” he asked.

Donna stopped and put her hand on her hip. “Oi, don’t get shirty with me, Spaceman,” she told him. “What did I tell you about not leaving us stranded in Barcelona? You’re just lucky the hotel had a vacancy so we could keep our room for another night—and lucky Jenny was positive you would only be a day or two late.”

An amused chuckle cut off Donna’s tirade, and she whirled around to tell the innocent bystander exactly where he could put his busybody nose.

But the sight of a familiar face drew her up short. “Lee!” she gasped. Then she put her hands over her mouth, for once in her life completely speechless.

“Hello, D- D- Donna.”

The stuttering broke through her shock, and she ran to him, reaching out to touch his face, his hair, anything just to convince herself he was really there.

Her hands finally settled on his shoulders, and she clung to him just as she had in their last moments together in the Library. “Oh God, oh God. Is this real?”

“You’re real,” Lee said, holding her just as desperately. “I hoped you were real.”

“I found you. I promised I’d find you, and I did. I found you.”

Donna pulled back and cupped his face between her hands. “But… how? And where?”

“I got t- t- trapped,” he explained. “Between worlds.”

“When we activated the transmat at the Library, the Reality Bomb was in full effect,” the Doctor explained.

Donna tore her gaze away from Lee to pay attention to his explanation.

“And Lee’s transmat beam, unfortunately, got caught in the Void—the space between the universes. He was literally stuck in a crack between worlds. Somehow, the crack opened up in the bedroom of a little girl in 1996, which was where we found Lee.”

A shiver ran down Donna’s spine. “I thought you said all of that was repairing itself. Closing back up like it had never happened.”

The Doctor tugged on his ear. “Strictly speaking, it didn’t happen. Not in this timeline. Mickey and Pete and Jackie were only able to hop through because Pete’s World ran ahead of ours, and things hadn’t yet—”

“I asked about Lee, not the whole bloody universe.”

He cleared his throat. “Right. Sorry. Welllll… the crack was closing when we found Lee. But he’s here now!” he said quickly, before she could react.

Donna pulled Lee into a hug. “I can’t believe I came so close to losing you,” she whispered. His hand stroked her hair, and she had to swallow back tears. “I spent so long looking for you…”

Rose caught Jenny’s eye and gestured towards the park. Taking the Doctor’s hand, she pulled him towards the trees, trusting their daughter to follow.

oOoOo

Lee closed his eyes and rested his head on top of Donna’s. Her whispered confession eased one concern he’d had—that what they’d had in the Library had all been a lie.

Up until then, he’d felt a bit like he was on a first date, sweaty palms and all. But now… “I was sent to the Library to find out what happened. Instead I found you.”

Donna stepped back half a step and looked up at him. “What do you mean, you were sent?”

He lowered his voice and leaned in. “I’m a Time Agent,” he told her quietly.

“You mean Rose was right?” Donna exclaimed.

Lee chuckled. “Yes, she was.” He frowned. “I apparently spent 100 years in the Library’s mainframe, and I still don’t know what happened.”

Donna smiled and took his hand. “Well I can answer that,” she said. “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”

“We were supposed to have a quiet day in,” Donna started. “I was painting my toes, Jenny was reading, and Rose was painting. Then the Doctor came in and told us to get ready to go…”

Lee listened raptly to the tale, from the message on the psychic paper to the surprise strangers arriving in the Library to the lights suddenly going out.

He sucked in a breath when Donna repeated the Doctor’s warning. “Count the shadows.”

“Vashta Nerada,” he breathed.

Donna rolled her eyes. “Of course you’ve heard of them.” She sighed. “Am I always going to be the only one who doesn’t know things?”

Lee blinked at her. This insecurity… It hadn’t been there in the Library. But maybe the program of the computer had given her the confidence she apparently lacked. It had certainly made other changes, like making his stutter even worse than it was in reality.

Donna took a breath and continued the story. “So, one of the crew was taken. Eaten, I guess. And as soon as the Doctor knew how big of a threat it was, he wanted to send me and Jenny back to the TARDIS to be safe. He dragged us into the little shop, with the transmat pad by the door.”

Lee nodded. That was when their story began, then.

oOoOo

The Doctor wrapped his arm around Rose’s shoulder as they walked the paths in the park. They’d taken off in the opposite direction of Donna and Lee, with Jenny walking beside them, telling them all about their week long holiday.

The Doctor held Rose close as he thought about the other couple and wondered how things were going for them. He remembered how devastated Donna had been when she’d gotten back from the pocket universe in the Library computer. She’d had the life she’d always wanted, but it had been fake.

_Hopefully Lee can make it real this time,_ Rose said, following his train of thought.

He hummed in agreement. _I hope so. I just…_ He took a moment to soak in everything they had—each other, their bond, their daughter walking with them. _Donna deserves all of this, too._

Rose stretched up and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re very sweet sometimes,” she whispered.

Her phone beeped before he could reply. Rose checked the text, but all three of them had turned back towards the TARDIS as soon as they heard the chime, guessing what the message was.

oOoOo

Rose smiled when she caught sight of the couple. They were sitting across from each other at a picnic table, holding hands.

_It looks like Donna’s worries that the real Lee might not care about her didn’t come true._

The Doctor hummed. _Yep. Oh, I’m glad._

Donna saw them first and she jumped up. “About time you got back here,” she snarked. “Although I shouldn’t be surprised you’re late… don’t think I’ve forgotten you were a whole day late getting here.” She gestured at the Doctor’s head. “Nice platinum blonde, I think.”

“But… you…” The Doctor gestured vaguely between Donna and Lee. “I had a good reason for being late! And aren’t you glad the TARDIS took us to Leadworth to find him?”

Donna’s teasing expression faded to happiness. “Yeah. All right, you’re off the hook this time, Spaceman. But next time…” She raised an eyebrow meaningfully.

“So, are we ready to go back to Cardiff?” Jenny asked. “I bet Gran is wondering where we are.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Mum will find something to mutter about, no matter when we arrive. But, as long as we don’t need to make any stops first…”

She looked at Donna and Lee. “You’re certainly welcome to come with us, Lee. We have a few friends who might be very interested to meet you, actually. I understand if you aren’t up for meeting a whole group of new people today, though. We could drop you and Donna off somewhere and come back after the party, if you’d rather.”

Lee shook his head. “I’ll come with you.”

“Excellent!” The Doctor, still worried about his hair, darted to the TARDIS and unlocked the door. “Come on them, what are we waiting for?”

“I was going to say that your mother-in-law’s anger at you missing the party would be punishment enough, but you’ll just natter on about how this is a time machine.” Donna pursed her lips. “And you’ll be able to get us back in time without her even knowing we were almost late. It’s almost not fair.”

“Jackie’s stubborn refusal to grasp the basics of time travel can be frustrating, but it does have its advantages,” the Doctor agreed.

oOoOo

The Doctor watched his little entourage as he and Rose flew the TARDIS back to Cardiff. Donna was watching Lee like she thought he was going to disappear again, and he had her hand clasped firmly in his own.

Jenny sat on the jump seat, watching the two of them. The Doctor tilted his head and studied his daughter. There was something… off in the way she was holding herself.

_Let’s take Jenny for a trip on her own as soon as we can,_ he suggested to Rose.

Rose turned slightly to watch Jenny for a moment, and then she nodded.

Their landing was soft, and Rose led the way to the top of the ramp. “Time to visit family,” she told everyone. “Lee… I know you agreed to come, but please don’t feel like you need to spend time with my mum. I love her, but she can be… a lot.”

Lee smiled reassuringly. “I’m pretty sure I’ve met people more difficult than your mum, Rose.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” the Doctor muttered under his breath.

Rose glared at him, and he smiled unrepentantly back. They both knew that the faux antagonistic vibe between him and Jackie was all for show… Well, mostly.

“All right,” he said, gesturing for them all to leave the ship. “If we don’t get out there now, she’ll be banging on the door wondering why we’re staying in this box.”

Rose opened the door and started laughing when she saw her mum halfway to them.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Jackie said. “I don’t know why you’d want to stay in that box when the party is inside.”

Rose stepped outside and moved aside so everyone else could exit the TARDIS. Jackie’s eyes lit on Lee, and Rose nodded. “Donna brought a plus one, if that’s okay.”

Jackie smiled. “Of course! Now come on, the party is nearly started.” She turned and led the way back to the front door.

A car pulled into the drive as they were walking inside, and Rose raised her eyebrows when she realised that Martha and Mickey had arrived together. The Doctor had told her about the timelines he had noticed, but she hadn’t really given it much thought.

The two groups met at the front door and entered the house together. “It’s about time you all got here,” Jack called from the living room. “I was starting…”

His voice trailed off when he caught sight of Lee. “Well hello,” he said. “Jack Harkness, and you are…”

“Not interested,” Donna said firmly. “This is Lee. Lee McAvoy. We met at the Library.”

Rose covered her mouth with her hand to hide her smile at Donna’s clever wording, but to her surprise, Jack’s gaze sharpened.

“Lee McAvoy? At _the_ Library?” he said, emphasising the article.

Donna looked back and forth between the two men. “Oh right,” she said after a minute. “Jack used to be a Time Agent, too.”

“Yeah, and I remember hearing about an agent who was lost in the whole quarantine of the Library.” He looked at the Doctor. “You know, I actually wondered about Lee here when you told us you’d been to the Library. But I assumed if you didn’t mention him that you hadn’t met.”

He looked at Donna, then at her hand clasped in Lee’s. “I guess I was asking the wrong person,” he said, waggling his eyebrows.

“Jaaaaack,” the Doctor said, exasperated.

“You know, I’ve heard of Jack Harkness, too,” Lee interjected.

Jack leaned forward. “Oh yeah? The tales of my greatness go before me?”

Lee shook his head soberly, bur Rose noticed a glimmer in his eyes. “N-no. The tales of your…” He opened and closed his mouth a few times. “Of your nakedness.”

The whole group burst into laughter. “He’s got you there, Captain Cheesecake,” Mickey said, pounding the man on the back.

“Why are you naked in all the stories, Mr. Jack?” a very young voice asked.

Rose bit her lip and looked down at her little brother, who had snuck into the room when no one had noticed. _Oh dear,_ she thought, looking at the unamused expression on her mum’s face.

“Oh really?” Jackie said as she picked up Tony. “What kind of stories have you been telling my little boy, Harkness?”

She ignored Jack’s incoherent sputtering and wheeled on Pete. “And you, Mister. We’ll be talking about you taking Tony with you to work.” She swept out of the room, and everyone let out collective breath.

“I see what you mean, Rose,” Lee offered, and the tension broke into laughter.

Jenny slipped away from the group, making her way to the kitchen. Pete was pulling dishes out of the cupboards. “Can I help set the table?” she said, guessing what he was up to.

“Of course.”

They each picked up a stack of dishes and carried them into the dining room. As they laid plates around the table, Jenny felt her granddad watching her.

“Jackie tells me Donna brought a plus one tonight,” he said after a few minutes.

Jenny’s hand clenched around the knives she held. “Yeah. Lee McAvoy. They were married in a parallel universe, and we’ve been trying to find him.”

Pete nodded; he understood different universes and different lives better than anyone. “I’m glad Donna was able to find him. She’s seemed a little sad this summer.”

Jenny sighed. Donna had been sad, which made her own upset that much more selfish. “Yeah,” she said quietly.

They finished setting the table, and then Jenny followed Pete back into the kitchen. “Of course,” he said, “Lee joining your group changes the dynamics a bit, doesn’t it?”

Jenny bit her lip, then let everything she was feeling spill out. “Yeah. Mum and Dad, and Donna and Lee. And then me. Just Jenny. I’m the fifth wheel.”

She dropped onto a bench and slouched. “I don’t fit anymore.”

Pete held out a hand and pulled her to her feet. “Then you have to find a way to make yourself fit,” he said firmly. “Come on; dinner is just about ready.”

oOoOo

After supper had been cleared from the table, the Doctor clapped his hands. “All right everyone, may I have your attention!”

“Oh, we’d better listen to him, or he’ll find a way to blow up the dining room or something,” Jackie said sardonically. Everyone else laughed.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “If you’re done taking the mick—”

“Never,” Mickey said.

“Then _maybe_ ,” he continued, raising his voice a little, “you’d like to hear my new safety resolution.”

“Oh, for—” Jackie took a large gulp of her wine. “I’m going to regret this, but let’s hear it.”

“Thank you, Jackie.” Finally, everyone quieted and gave him their full attention. “All of you have travelled with us at one time or another, and most of you have had the… let’s say the misfortune of being stranded.”

Mickey nodded. “On a spaceship in eighteenth century France.”

“Quite right, Mickey Smith. And now, we’re all going our separate ways, to a certain extent. Some of us are in Cardiff,” he gestured at Pete and Jack, “Some in London,” Mickey and Martha, “And some of you might not even live in this time.” This to Lee. “And since we all seem to find trouble more easily than most, I’d like to offer… let’s call it a safety button.”

“What are you thinking, Doctor?” Martha asked. “Project Indigo was completely dismantled by UNIT when the Earth was put back where it belonged.”

Jack held up the wrist that had his vortex manipulator. “I’ve got my own safety button.”

Lee reached into his back pocket and pulled out an identical device. “Me t-t-too.”

“Where did you get that?” Donna exclaimed.

Lee pointed at himself. “T-t-t…” He paused and took a breath. “Time Agent,” he said, forcing the words out.

The Doctor interrupted before Donna insisted on a full history of where he’d been hiding his Vortex Manipulator this whole time. “Excellent, the two of you are covered then. But for the rest of you, what I’m about to suggest is the next best thing.”

The soft murmur of conversation around the table stopped and everyone looked at him. The Doctor nodded and launched into his explanation.

“The TARDIS and I have been working on a little project.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out ten thin pieces of wire. “These are homing beacons. I’ll just install these in your mobile phones under the battery. If you’re ever in trouble and need us to come get you, just press and hold 9 and it’ll activate the beacon.”

“I hate to admit it,” Jackie said, “but that’s actually a good idea.”

Everyone around the table nodded and pulled their phones out. The Doctor rolled his eyes at Jackie, but went to work on installing the homing beacons onto all of the phones, working down the line.

The last phone on the table was a plastic toy mobile. He looked down at his young brother-in-law, staring up at him with all the seriousness a three-year-old could muster. “I wanna be able to call you too, Doctor.”

The Doctor ruffled the boy’s hair. “Absolutely, Tony Tyler.” He picked up the toy and pointed the sonic screwdriver at it, letting the sound fill the room for a few seconds before he stopped. Then he handed the toy back to Tony.

“There you go. One Tony Tyler homing beacon, ready to go.”

The nanny, who had been waiting at the doorway, came in and held her hand out. “Come on, Tony, you got to talk to the Doctor like you wanted. It’s time for your bath now.”

“Night, Doctor! Night Rosie!”

“Oh, I don’t warrant a good night,” Jackie said, but the Doctor was fairly certain she sounded less irritated than usual.

Sally, the housekeeper, brought out coffee and tea and placed them on the sidebar. Jackie smiled and thanked her, then looked at the group.

“As long as we’re all making announcements, I’ve got one of my own. You’re all invited to our place for Christmas. We’ve got plenty of room for all of you, if we pull out the couches.”

Mickey and Martha both started shaking their heads. “We can’t get that long off,” Mickey said. “We’ll be doing good to get out here for dinner and back to London before we’re expected to be at work the next day.”

“Oh, come on,” Jackie wheedled. “It won’t be the same without you.”

The Doctor got an idea, and after gaining Rose’s approval, he spoke up. “There is a way we could have a holiday house party and still get everyone to work on time the next day.”

“How’s that, boss?”

Martha got it immediately, though. “If we leave the current timeline for the week, right Doctor?”

He nodded. “We could take everyone off-world for a holiday trip. Pick you all up on the 23rd, say, and then bring you back the next morning. Not only do you get a few days’ holiday, you’ll still have Christmas Day at home to catch up on laundry or whatever.”

“I’m not spending our first Christmas together in a hotel on some strange alien planet,” Jackie protested.

“But we could rent a house,” Rose told her. “You could do all the grocery shopping and bring everything with you, and then you’d still get to host the party just like you wanted.”

Jackie pursed her lips. “You’ll help him find a house?” she pressed.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, but he kept his mouth shut.

“Yeah, I’ll help him.”

Jackie looked around at everyone. “Are you all okay with this?”

Mickey nodded. “It’ll be nice to get away for more than a day,” he said. “UNIT has been working us hard for the last few months, trying to clean up the mess left by the Daleks.”

“All right then,” Jackie conceded. “We’ll go away for the holiday.” She pointed at the Doctor. “But we better not end up on the planet Zhoz.”

“I’ll have you know—”

Jackie waved him off. “Come on, everyone. Get yourself a cuppa and let’s go sit down in the living room.”

oOoOo

Rose took her cuppa and went to an over-stuffed armchair tucked slightly away from the rest of the seating arrangement. She tucked her legs up underneath herself and watched her family.

Jack and Lee were swapping stories from the Time Agency. Donna was sitting pressed against Lee’s side, and every once in a while she’d interject with a story of her own from traveling on the TARDIS. Rose loved to see her newfound confidence—a year ago, she wouldn’t have felt like she had anything to add to a conversation like that.

A naked streak interrupted her observations. Rose jumped up when she realised the streak was her little brother, dripping wet from his bath. He shrieked with laughter as he darted through the living room.

“Oh, Lord,” Jackie muttered.

“I’ve got him, Mum,” Rose told her as she took chase.

It wasn’t hard to track the little boy. If the puddles of water hadn’t given him away, the constant giggling would have. She caught up with him just before he opened the back door to run out into the garden.

“Oh no you don’t, mister,” she said, scooping him up. “Come on, time to go to bed.”

She waved at Pete and Jenny, who were trying not to laugh. “And apologise to Dad for interrupting him and Jenny,” she instructed.

“Sorry, Daddy!” Tony shouted.

“You’re forgiven, Tiger.” Pete stood up and kissed Tony on the forehead. “Now be nice to Anna. She’s getting her exercise in today.”

The winded nanny smiled tiredly. “Thank you, Mr. Tyler.” She took Tony from Rose. “Come on, young man. It’s bed time for all streaking toddlers.”

“What’s streaking?” Tony asked as they left the room.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Rose, Pete, and Jenny burst out laughing.

When Rose reentered the living room, Jack was leaning back on the couch, a gleeful smirk on his face. “And now I’m not the only one with a naked story.”


	5. Changes a'coming

Chapter Five: Changes a’coming

It was well after midnight when the Doctor unlocked the TARDIS and ushered Donna, Lee, Jenny, and Rose inside.

“So, you’re going back to Lee’s place, I hear?” he asked Donna.

She nodded. “Yeah. I figure that after 100 years, he probably has a few little loose ends to take care of.”

The Doctor pressed his tongue to the back of his teeth. “Yes…” he said, drawing out the sound. “Now there’s a thought. I wonder what all the rest of the people from the Library did.” He gestured at Lee. “At least you have a way to get back to your own time.”

“Oh my god,” Donna muttered. “Everyone else will be like the people in Sleeping Beauty, gone for 100 years and suddenly coming back.”

“Still better than being dead, or stuck in a computer for the rest of their lives,” Rose countered.

She raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, and he tugged guiltily on his ear. He had been about to berate himself for not thinking of that very obvious problem, but she was right. What else could he have done?

“Anyway!” he said, darting to the navigation panel. “Where exactly are we going, Lee?”

Lee rattled off the space time coordinates, and Jenny stepped in to help the Doctor set them. Then Rose released the handbrake and nodded at Donna.

Donna grinned and grabbed the dematerialisation lever. “Fifty-first century, coming up,” she said as she pushed it.

The TARDIS rocked hard as they left Cardiff, sending all of them to the grating. The Doctor caught Rose and helped her back upright.

_Thought you could always tell what she was going to do,_ he teased.

_Yeah, but sometimes it’s fun to just go flying._

He laughed and twirled her out and back in. Lee grabbed Donna, and the two couples did a quick dance around the console as the ship took them where they needed to be.

The landing was quite a bit smoother than the takeoff, only the dull wheezing of the engines and a soft thud telling them they had arrived.

“Welcome home, Lee McAvoy,” the Doctor said, pointing at the door.

Lee jogged up the ramp and opened the door. The Doctor waited while he double checked, and a moment later he stuck his head back in, a wide grin on his face.

“Exactly where I said to go.”

The Doctor crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. “You sound surprised. Who have you been talking to? Jackie?”

Donna snorted. “Don’t start, Spaceman. As if it’s some big secret that your landings are… well, not exactly precise.”

“You told Amelia and Rory last night that the ship isn’t always accurate,” Lee pointed out.

The Doctor adjusted his tie. He’d forgotten about that. “Ah. Yes, I did, didn’t I?” He shrugged. “Well, she got you here this time.”

Donna hugged Rose and Jenny, then nudged the Doctor in the ribs with her elbow. He laughed and gave her a one-armed hug.

“We’ll be back to pick you up for Christmas,” he told them.

“We’ll be ready,” Lee promised. He held out his hand for Donna, and together they stepped out of the ship.

The Doctor sighed, then spun around the console to look at Jenny and Rose. “All right, where are we off to?” he asked.

Jenny covered her mouth and yawned. “I think I’m ready to get some sleep before we go travelling anywhere,” she said. “It’s been a long day.”

She hopped off the jump seat and kissed both the Doctor and Rose on the cheek before taking off down the corridor to her room.

“And then there were two,” Rose quoted.

The console pinged, and Rose glanced at the monitor. “We need to pick up a new temporal regulator,” she said absently. “Maybe we could find a good market planet to visit.”

The Doctor looked at the circular Gallifreyan on the monitor, then at Rose. “You can read that?” It was one thing to glimpse his thoughts in his mind and be able to translate them—the bond did that for her. She’d just read that message all on her own.

He wasn’t even certain Rose had realised what she’d done, and when she looked at the monitor again and then did a double take, he was certain she hadn’t.

“I could read Gallifreyan when I was Bad Wolf,” she explained. “Didn’t think it would stick, but apparently it did.”

Her eyes twinkled, and she projected the pleasant, fizzy feeling of amusement. “Guess you can’t code all your private messages in Gallifreyan anymore.”

The Doctor shook his head, but he knew Rose could see the smile he tried to hide.

“Do you know,” he said, “five years ago I would have been horrified to find out you could read Gallifreyan.”

Rose sidled closer to him and slid her arm through his. “Why’s that, Doctor?” she asked, her voice light and teasing. “Were you writing love letters to me and leaving them out where anyone could find them?”

The Doctor felt his neck get warm and was pretty sure he was blushing. “Maybe something like that,” he admitted.

The teasing light in Rose’s eyes deepened into a warm affection. She tugged gently, and he half turned so he could rest his hands on her hips.

Rose slid her hands up over his shoulders and played with the hair at the nape of his neck. “Well, twenty-year-old Rose would have been mortified if you’d found her journal,” she confessed. “The TARDIS mighta kept it hidden for me.”

The Doctor chuckled, then slowly bent down to brush his lips against hers. _We were idiots in love back then._

_Yep, but all that pining was worth it in the end._ Rose nipped his lip, then swiped her tongue over the spot.

The Doctor ran his hands over her back, sinking into the kiss while secretly plotting his next move. As soon as he could tell Rose was thoroughly caught up in the embrace, he stepped back and swept her up into his arms.

Rose laughed and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “I love you,” she whispered in his ear as he carried her down the corridor.

The Doctor set her down in front of their door, then stepped forward until she was sandwiched between him and the door.

“Oh, Rose Tyler… I love you, too.”

oOoOo

As Jenny walked away from the console room, the sound of her parents’ voices faded away. But she could still _feel_ them—feel their contentment, their peace… the steady presence that they were to each other. The Doctor and Rose Tyler.

She ran her fingers along the wall as she turned the last corner before her room. She’d been looking forward to coming home, but it didn’t feel quite… the same.

The wooden door swung open at the barest touch, but instead of going inside, she stood in the doorway for a moment. This was the one place in the entire universe that was wholly her own. Maybe…

She took a deep breath and entered the room. A book had fallen over on the bookcase, and she straightened it. She had a metal figurine from Syrenia on the next shelf, and she picked it up absently before putting it down and moving on.

The pillows on the window seat were scattered around, and she piled them all up on one end so she could lean back into them and watch the pretend sea through her pretend window.

This was home. So why didn’t she feel like she belonged?

Sitting in the console room earlier, watching her parents and Donna and Lee dance around the console… She had never felt more alone. Like she’d told Pete, she didn’t fit here anymore.

Jenny bit her lip. Pete had offered a solution, and the more she thought about it, the more appealing it became.

_Maybe I can find my own place, somewhere I fit—just me, Jenny Tyler._ She hugged a pillow to her chest and imagined that life as she watched the sea roll by.

Jenny blinked a few times when she woke up, trying to work through the disorienting feeling of waking up in the wrong place. She sat up gingerly and stretched her body, but thankfully, the TARDIS had made the seat comfortable enough to sleep on.

She patted the door frame as she entered her ensuite. It was definitely nice living in a home that could arrange herself perfectly to take care of your every need.

_You’ll lose that if you go work for Pete._

Jenny sighed and got dressed, trying not to think about the two options fighting for her attention.

She could hear her parents teasing as she neared the galley. The warm happiness tugged at her, but it didn’t ease the feeling of being out of place.

“I’m just saying I don’t think Jenny will want kaju in her pancakes,” Mum said.

“Kaju is good, Rose.”

Jenny rolled her eyes. She’d never heard of kaju before, but with that firm declaration, she knew exactly what it was.

“Dad, I don’t want space bananas in my breakfast, all right?”

“They’re sea bananas, Jenny!” Dad waved his spatula at her. “We got to tour a farm and see how they’re grown.”

“That’s great,” Jenny said. “I’d like blueberries in mine, please.”

The Doctor frowned and waved the spatula between Jenny and Rose. “Neither of you fully appreciate the fantastic fruit that bananas—and kaju—are.”

“Think of it this way, Doctor,” Rose said. “This leaves more for you.” He brightened and spun back around to the stove, and Rose winked at Jenny behind his back.

“Excellent point, Rose. Always thinking.”

Rose shook her head, then pointed at the counter. “We made you coffee,” she told Jenny. “Breakfast will be ready in a minute—if your dad can stop pontificating on how amazing certain fruits are.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” the Doctor said, ruining his claim before he could even start. “Instead, I have a proposition for the day.”

He looked at Jenny over his shoulder. “The TARDIS needs a new part. I can get what I need on Razda, and we can all enjoy the shopping and culture. And then tomorrow, after I’ve taken care of our ship, I thought we could visit Alethia.”

Jenny bit her lip. It would be so easy to let them catch her back up into the whirlwind, and suddenly she knew that if she didn’t make her choice now, she never would.

“Actually, after Razda maybe you could take me back to Cardiff.”

The words sat heavily in the room, like she’d set off a bomb.

“To… where?” Dad said, running his hand through his hair.

She nodded, feeling more confident in her choice with each second. “Granddad offered me an internship with Torchwood,” she explained. “I’ll work with him and Jack, going out with their teams to keep track of what’s going on with the Rift.”

“Oh, you’ll be working with Jack,” the Doctor muttered.

“Doctor.”

Jenny shot her mum a grateful look. “Yeah, because Jack is one of the team leaders,” Jenny said slowly, pretending she hadn’t understood exactly what her father was saying.

“Is this what you and Dad were talking about last night, when Tony and I interrupted you?” Rose asked.

Jenny set her cup down and ran her thumb along the rim. “Yeah… but it wasn’t the first time he’s suggested it. The few times Donna and I came through Cardiff over the summer, he would ask if I wanted to come work with him for a while.”

She shrugged. “I just… I know about the travelling part of this life, but I want to understand all of it—including the Earthbound part. I want to know how Torchwood and UNIT and other organisations work when they encounter aliens on Earth.”

“Yes, but… _why_?” the Doctor asked, feeling lost.

Rose put a hand on his arm and he looked at her, hoping she could help him understand. She smiled and slid her hand down to take his, then turned to Jenny.

“I know you really liked travelling Earth with Donna.”

Jenny ran her hand over her ponytail, and the Doctor knew they hadn’t quite hit on her reason yet.

“You liked the travelling,” Rose repeated, “but you liked the freedom, didn’t you? Stretching your own wings a little.”

Jenny sighed, and the Doctor could feel her relief. “Yeah, exactly.”

The Doctor opened his mouth, but Rose’s narrowed eyes warned him not to say what was on his mind. What exactly was it about now that made it the perfect time for Jenny to leave? When she hadn’t travelled with them really in months?

_I’ll explain later,_ Rose told him.

The Doctor sighed and ran his hand through his hair again. “Well then, that makes Razda the perfect stop for multiple reasons,” he said. “Excellent shopping, and there’s never any disaster there. Perfectly safe.”

“Oh my god,” Jenny muttered.

His forehead furrowed in a frown as she turned around and grabbed something off the counter.

“Oi!” he said when she tossed salt over her shoulder. “What are you doing that for?”

Rose laughed along with Jenny. “You have to admit, for someone who likes to go on and on about how people say things that tempt fate, you have a habit of doing so yourself.”

He huffed, then laughed along with them when Jenny stuck her tongue out at them.

“All right, let’s finish our breakfast and go to the _most likely perfectly safe_ asteroid.”

oOoOo

The Doctor meticulously set the coordinates for Razda, and he was rewarded when Rose recognised their location as soon as she left the TARDIS.

“You managed to land _exactly_ where you did the first time we came here.”

He stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled. “Yep. My landings can be precise after all.”

Rose rolled her eyes, then gestured towards the shopping district. “All right then, Jenny I will go explore.” Mischief suddenly swept over the bond, and she smirked up at him. “We’ll be sure not to buy any poisonous lippie, or bracelets that are really some kind of alien sex toy.”

She and the Doctor both laughed, but Jenny looked at them, baffled.

_“What?”_ she exclaimed, only making them laugh harder.

Finally, Rose shook her head. “Come on, Jenny. I’ll tell you the story while we shop.” She waved at the Doctor, and the two of them disappeared into the throng of people shopping the Razda market.

The Doctor turned and went in the opposite direction. _Just like the last time we were here,_ he mused. It was hard to believe that was only five years ago.

The streets and alleys of the market hadn’t changed. The parts shop was still tucked away at the end of a dead end, with a junkyard behind the shop proper.

“Hello!” the proprietor called out as the Doctor stepped inside. “Is there anything I can help you find?”

The Doctor shook his head. “I’m in a scavenge mode,” he said. “I’ll know what I’m looking for when I see it.”

No shop would have a temporal regulator. The Doctor would need to build the replacement part himself. And he had almost everything he needed, except for a few connectors.

He wandered over to the wall of drawers, picking up interesting gadgets along the way. Unless the organisation of the shop had changed in the last five years, all of the connectors and fasteners and other bits and bobs would be in those drawers.

It took him less than fifteen minutes to find what he needed. “Got it!” he crowed, spinning around with his finds.

The salesperson smiled. “You certainly know your way around our shop,” they observed as the Doctor brought his purchases to the counter.

The Doctor handed over his credit stick. “I’m a bit of a regular.”

They raised an eyebrow as they scanned the stick and handed it back. “I’ve never seen you before.”

The Doctor stuck all of his purchases and the credit stick into his pockets. The shopkeeper’s eyes got bigger and bigger as he dropped the two larger gadgets he’d found into his pockets.

“Well… It’s been a while,” he said. “But I always come back.”

“And I hope you always do. Have a good afternoon, sir.”

The Doctor whistled as he left the parts shop. The TARDIS would be much happier after he replaced the temporal regulator.

He shook his head, remembering the sudden revelation that Rose could read Gallifreyan. She’d told him three months ago that the surprises from Bad Wolf would continue, and apparently, she was correct.

A sharp beam of reflected light hit his eyes, and he squinted in the direction it had come from. A moment later, his face split in a wide grin. It was the same jeweller who had sold him Rose’s ring five years ago.

He moved quickly through the crowd until he stood in front of the table. “Hello!” he said brightly.

The woman looked at him, then narrowed her eyes for a moment. “You are a past customer,” she said. “I never forget the face of someone who has purchased one of my pieces.”

The Doctor nodded quickly. “Yep! You sold me my wife’s engagement ring. Sapphire in a laurium band,” he added helpfully.

The woman smiled. “Of course, sir. Are you shopping for her again today?”

He nodded, then he paused and added, “And for our daughter.”

“Let’s find the right gift for your Rose first,” the woman suggested.

The Doctor’s eyebrows raised. She _was_ an expert saleswoman. “Sapphire, like before,” he requested.

She nodded and shifted the top trays out of the way so he could see the sapphire pieces. The Doctor chuckled when he noticed that the cat pin was still there. His hand hovered over it for a moment, but something told him to leave it.

He pushed the top pieces away and kept digging. A solid laurium bracelet caught the sun, and he pulled it out, gaping when he realised what he’d found.

“This is a remembrance band,” he murmured, staring at the infinity symbol at the centre.

The woman nodded. “Because nothing should be lost,” she said gravely.

The Doctor’s hands shook as he turned the piece of Gallifreyan jewellery over in his hand. “How?” he whispered.

“A dealer came through, many years ago. He claimed to have pieces from lost worlds. I admit, I didn’t give his words much credit, and truly many of his pieces were fake. But then he showed me this.”

The Doctor looked up at her. “How did you know what it was?”

She smiled serenely. “Jewellery is my life. I have dug through books and museums, so I could be the very best saleswoman. Until that trader came through, I had only seen a Gallifreyan remembrance band in books.”

She tilted her head and stared at him. “But you have seen them before,” she realised. “This is not the first time you’ve held one.”

The Doctor swallowed hard and nodded. “It’s the telepathic equivalent of a locket,” he said hoarsely. “The giver imprints the stones with the images of their family, and whenever the wearer rubs their thumb over the stones, they will see those images in their mind.”

“Incredible,” she breathed. “I knew what it was called, but the books did not explain how it worked.”

The Doctor rubbed his thumb over the sapphires set in the infinity symbol. There was a faint echo of the previous user, and he felt slightly bittersweet, knowing that whoever had worn this originally was now long gone.

“I’ll take it,” he said.

She shook her head when he handed her his credit stick. “I couldn’t possibly take money for something that is clearly so valuable to you,” she said quietly. “Please, take it.”

The Doctor frowned. “Well then, I’ll need to get something else as well,” he said decisively.

He left fifteen minutes later with three packages: the remembrance band, plus a Christmas present for Jenny and a birthday present for Rose.

He hadn’t gone far when he felt a sudden burst of anger over the bond. A moment later, he heard the loud pounding of footsteps running against the hard, packed dirt.

“Oi!”

The shout was familiar, and the Doctor wasn’t even surprised when a moment later, he saw a man race through the market with Rose and Jenny hot on his heels.

“That doesn’t belong to you!” Jenny yelled.

The thief made it to the opposite side of the small plaza, but he never had a chance of outrunning Rose and Jenny. The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and watched as they caught up with the man and Jenny tackled him to the ground.

A loud round of cheers surprised him, and when he looked at the shopkeepers and customers at the surrounding booths, he realised he wasn’t the only one who had been completely invested in the little scene.

Another woman jogged into the square, looking anxious and winded. Rose scooped up the handbag and handed it to her, while Jenny tied the thief’s hands behind his back with a scarf.

Police entered the scene from the opposite side and quickly took custody of the man. As they led him away, the Doctor walked over to Rose and Jenny.

“So… perfectly safe, I said…”

Rose shook her head and Jenny laughed. “Come on,” she said, taking him and Rose both by the hand. “I’m starving. What do they have to eat on this asteroid?”

oOoOo

They stretched the day out as much as they could, but as the shadows got longer, the Doctor sensed the impatience rolling off of Jenny. Without saying a word, he led them back to the TARDIS. She hugged him before going inside, and he had to bite back a sigh.

He stood at the top of the ramp for a moment, looking down at Rose and Jenny. Rose’s soft smile was full of understanding, while Jenny… Jenny was dancing around the console, too excited to sit still.

“So, Cardiff?” the Doctor said as he joined them at the console.

“Yes!”

The Doctor moved slowly around the console, making sure to set all the coordinates correctly. He felt Jenny’s gaze on him and he gave her a smile. “Well, I wouldn’t want you to be late for your first day of work,” he said.

He scratched his sideburn, then reached into his pocket. “And speaking of your first day of work, I have a gift for you. Meant for it to be your Christmas present, but…”

He slowly pulled his hand out of his pocket, and Jenny’s eyes grew round when she realised what he had. “My own sonic screwdriver?” she breathed. “Really, Dad?”

He smiled and handed it to her. “Really,” he promised. Then he tugged on his ear. “I was planning to teach you how to use it, all the most important settings and whatnot. Since I won’t be there, I took the liberty of downloading a complete list to your tablet. You can research as you have time.”

Jenny squealed and leapt into his arms. The Doctor laughed and swung her slightly as they hugged.

“Well, I couldn’t send you off to encounter aliens without some decent tech, could I?” he asked. He sniffed. “Tell Harkness this is times better than that Time Agent wrist comp he’s got.”

Jenny dropped back to the floor and rolled her eyes. “Daaaad…”

“Jeeeeeenny,” he teased.

She giggled, then darted over to the dematerialisation lever. “Are we ready?” He nodded, and she threw it with a gleeful shout.

Her giddy excitement stung a little, but the Doctor tried to hide his reaction. Jenny wanted this; he wouldn’t tarnish it by pouting.

But later, when he and Rose were relaxing in the study, he brought it up. “I still don’t understand. Why on Earth would she want to stay in Cardiff when she could have all of time and space?”

Rose smiled and tugged him close. “Because she has to travel all of time and space with her parents,” she said patiently. She reached up and rubbed the confused furrow out of the Doctor’s forehead. “Most people Jenny’s age are eager to get out on their own. I took the first offer I got, after all.”

The Doctor smirked suddenly. “Actually, you took the second offer,” he reminded her.

Rose rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

He nodded, and she saw that some of his frustration had eased. “I think I understood earlier, it was just hard,” he admitted. “We spent the whole summer waiting to travel with her and Donna again, and now we’re on our own.”

Rose snuggled closer to him. “Yeah, but it can be fun to be on our own,” she pointed out.

The Doctor laughed, then stood up and offered her his hand. “Come on. Let’s get to bed.”

oOoOo

Rose woke up before the Doctor the next morning. She’d gotten an idea the night before when they’d been talking about being on their own. There was one thing they’d been planning to do, something they only had two tickets for.

But when she opened the first edition of _Philosopher’s Stone_ and took out the tickets to the charity gala, she felt timelines shift slightly.

_Well, that’s odd,_ she thought. She tapped the tickets against her fingers, waiting for the feeling to subside, but the longer she held them, the more certain she was that these tickets should not exist.

Rose sighed and picked up her tablet to do a little research. It only took a few quick searches to discover exactly why JK Rowling would not be hosting a twenty-fifth anniversary charity gala.

Rose read the bigoted tweets and tried to reconcile the woman who could say things like that with the woman who had written such a wonderful story about friendship, unity, and love.

“What are you up to?”

Rose jumped when the Doctor spoke from the doorway. She’d been so caught up in her research that she hadn’t even noticed he’d woken up.

She put the tablet down on the coffee table and motioned for him to sit down with her. “So… I know today is going to be hard, or just feel weird, so I thought it would be a good day to use your Christmas gift. Your birthday is only a few weeks away anyway. But…”

She gestured at the tablet, and he picked it up and read it quickly, then tossed it down on the table with a huff of disgust.

“Never meet your heroes, that’s what I said isn’t it?”

“I think she’s taken care of that for us,” Rose said sardonically.

She leaned back and looked at him. “So, what would you like to do? It’s your Christmas present that got ruined, and the activity we’d planned for your birthday. You pick.”

The Doctor tugged her close and thanked her silently. It was true that JK Rowling’s transphobic comments had ruined his Christmas present, but they both knew that Rose was leaving the plans for the day up to him because he was struggling with Jenny’s departure.

“Let me think about it while we eat breakfast,” he requested.

They were doing the cleaning up when the perfect idea came to him. “Comic-con!”

Rose blinked at him. “Like, London Comic-con?” she asked.

The Doctor shook his head, then quickly nodded. “No. Well, yes. But different.” He bounced on his toes, already feeling the excitement building. “There are comic cons across the galaxy. There’s one I’ve always wanted to go to do—the granddaddy of them all, the Comic-con on Xvalia.”

“And what makes the Xvalian con so special?” Rose asked.

The Doctor held out his hand, and once she’d taken it, they walked through the corridors to the console room.

“The Xvalia con is the only one to showcase artists from all eight of the major comic book lines,” he explained. “All of the rest are run by one publisher or another, so you can only see work from their lines.”

Rose let go of his hand so he could circle the console and set the coordinates. “So this con is sort of like a free house,” she mused. “Able to sell all beers, not just the ones from one brewery.”

The Doctor laughed and slid a lever into place. “Exactly.” He looked up at Rose, and she raised an eyebrow at the mischievous look on his face. “And I think you’ll like the year I’ve chosen,” he added.

“Why’s that?” Rose asked.

“Because this is the year the entire cast of _By the Light of the Asteroid_ made appearances.”

Excitement slowed Rose’s brain for a moment, then sped it up to double speed. “You mean I could get their signatures? And ask them questions?”

The Doctor nodded. Then he rested his hand on the dematerialisation lever, teasing her by holding still.

“Well come on!” Rose said finally. “Comic-con awaits!”


	6. A Glimpse of the Future?

Chapter Six: A Glimpse of the Future?

Snow fell gently as the Doctor waited for Rose to join him outside. As the tip of her polished black boot appeared from beneath the hem of her full skirts, he remembered another day in another lifetime when he’d taken Rose to Victorian England.

She smirked at him when she closed the door behind her. “Yeah, but this time you meant for us to be in England,” she teased. “Not Naples.”

“True.” The Doctor took her gloved hand and brushed a kiss over knuckles, before tucking it in his elbow and leading her away from the TARDIS.

Rose placed her other hand on his arm and looked up at him. “All right Doctor, you told me London, winter of 1851, but you wouldn’t tell me anything else. Come on, why are we here?”

The Doctor nodded at the courtyard they’d just entered. It was filled with stalls and people buying and selling. On their right, a man hawked bunches of mistletoe, and somewhere, they heard a voice offering hot chestnuts.

Rose put her hand over her mouth and turned in a circle. The festive atmosphere was obvious, but if there had been any doubt, a choir stood on the edge of the courtyard singing “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.”

The Doctor waited until her shining eyes met his again. Then he leaned down and brushed a kiss against her cheek. “Merry Christmas, Rose Tyler.”

Rose turned her head and kissed his jaw, then pulled back and shot him an impish smile. “Does that mean we landed on Christmas and there’s real snow?”

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “If this is the thanks I get for trying to give you a nice holiday…”

Rose’s chuckle was cut off by a very familiar shout coming from an alleyway.

“Doctor!”

She raised an eyebrow. “A nice holiday?” she repeated drily.

The Doctor shook his head furiously. “Rose, I swear—”

“Doctor!”

“Tell me later!” Rose told him as they started running towards the cry.

After a few twists in the alleyway, a young black woman burst out of a building in front of them and closed the door firmly behind her. Whatever had been chasing her threw itself at the door, making it rattle on its hinges.

“Oh, that’s not going to hold it long,” Rose muttered.

“No, it’s not,” the Doctor agreed. He glanced at the other woman, wide-eyed with panic. “Don’t worry,” he told her, looking between her and the shaking door. “Stand back,” he improvised. Then he looked at the door. “What have we got here?”

His time senses were tingling; they were hovering right on the edge of a must-not-happen.

The creature on the other side of the door snarled and beat at the door again. The Doctor nodded once. “Okay, I’ve got it,” he told the woman without looking away from the door. “Whatever’s behind that door, I think you should get out of here.”

“Doctor!” she hollered again, as if he weren’t right in front of her.

“No, no. I’m standing right here.” The Doctor looked at her over his shoulder and waved cheerfully. “Hello.”

She looked him up and down, then shook her head impatiently. “Don’t be stupid. Who are you?”

“He’s the Doctor,” Rose interjected before he could.

The woman looked at the two of them, her eyebrow arched. “Doctor who?” she challenged.

The Doctor blinked and tugged on his ear. He was used to getting that question from people who’d never met him before, but usually people who were calling out for him in an emergency knew who he was.

“Just… the Doctor.”

“Well there can’t be two of you,” she retorted.

Footsteps echoed behind them, and the woman sighed in relief. “Where the hell have you been?”

A man skidded to a halt in front of them, the coattails of his buff frock coat flapping behind him. “Right then,” he said, only a little out of breath. “Don’t worry. Stand back. What have we got here then?”

“Hold on, who are you?” Rose demanded.

The man straightened up and smiled at her. “I’m the Doctor,” he declared. “Simply, the Doctor. The one, the only and the best.”

Rose had no idea who this man was, but she was positive he was not the Doctor. The familiar feel of his mind, the faint echo she felt when there were two Doctors nearby… she got none of it from this man.

But then he turned to the other woman and held out his hand. “Rosita, give me the sonic screwdriver,” he ordered.

“The what?” she and the Doctor asked in unison.

The man ignored them. “Now quickly, get back to the TARDIS.”

Rose and the Doctor both sucked in a breath. Sonic technology was one thing, but… Rose reached out for the ship, trying to feel a second TARDIS. All she could feel was their own ship.

“Back to the what?” the Doctor demanded.

Rather than answer, the man put his hand on the Doctor’s chest and gently pushed him out of the way. “If you could stand back, sir. This is a job for a Time Lord.”

“Job for a _what_ lord?” Rose gasped.

Her shock was momentarily forgotten when the doors burst open and the creature leapt out—a shaggy dog-like animal with a head like a Cyberman.

“Oh, that’s different,” the Doctor said, just as the other man said, “Oh, that’s new.”

Rose fumbled in her reticule, trying to retrieve her own sonic screwdriver. But both men had their devices out and pointing at the creature before she could even lay her hands on it.

“Allons-y!” they shouted together.

_Curiouser and curiouser,_ Rose mused, watching the two men.

The Cyber-creature tilted its head, like an animal studying their prey.

“I’ve been hunting this beast for a good fortnight,” the not-Doctor said. “Now step back, sir.”

Before anyone could do as this man asked, the Cyber-creature leapt over them and landed on the opposite wall, high above their heads.

“Some sort of primitive conversion,” the Doctor mused, “like they took the brain of a cat or a dog.”

“Can they do that?” Rose asked.

He shrugged. “Theoretically.”

The stranger scowled at them both. “Well, talking’s all very well. Rosita?”

Rose watched as the other woman ran over with a large coil of heavy rope in her hands. “I’m ready.”

The man who was not the Doctor took it from her. “Now, watch and learn,” he ordered Rose and the Doctor.

He adjusted his hold on the rope and Rose realised it was a lasso. She glanced up the wall at the creature and back down at the man, knowing immediately what he was going to do. It was exactly the sort of ridiculous plan the Doctor would think up.

_Oi!_

The Doctor’s indignation was forgotten when this new man managed to lasso the Cyber-creature on his first try.

“Excellent. Now then, let’s pull this timorous beastie down to earth.”

The Doctor shot a glance at Rose, who had her hands on her hips. One look and he knew that if this was his future self, and he’d just used the same term to refer to a Cyber-creature that he’d once used in reference to Rose, he would be paying for it later.

He was almost grateful when the Cyber-creature kept moving, pulling this other man along behind him. He skidded along the ground, trying to stop himself, but the Cyber-creature was stronger.

“Or not,” the Doctor said.

“I might be in a little bit of trouble,” the other man admitted as he reached the wall and was carried up it.

The Doctor grabbed onto the rope, some eight feet behind the stranger. “Nothing changes,” he said, going along with the notion that this man was a future regeneration. He braced himself against the wall. “I’ve got you.”

The beast looked down at them, and the Doctor got a sinking feeling that he’d just made a tactical error. Then it tossed its head and climbed higher.

“Or not,” the Doctor muttered as his feet left the ground.

Rose watched the Doctor soar through the air, dragged along by the Cyber-creature.

“You idiots!” Rosita shouted, and Rose couldn’t argue.

Rose sighed. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think he really was the Doctor.”

Rosita barely spared her a glance. “He’s gone up there without any idea of how to get down, like always.”

Rose nodded; she was very familiar with the sequence of events. She raised an eyebrow when Rosita grabbed an axe.

“There’s only one thing to do. Chase after him and save his hide, yet again.”

Rose grinned. “Oh, Rosita, I like you,” she said warmly.

“I don’t even know you,” Rosita retorted. “Who the hell are you, and who’s that man you’re with who says he’s the Doctor?”

Rose blinked. She had no idea who these people were or how they knew about sonic screwdrivers and the TARDIS. That man was not the Doctor, she knew that. And yet… _They know all about him, but nothing about me?_

She ignored the knot in her stomach and glanced up the wall to where the men hung in the distance. “That thing has jumped through the window,” she said, taking in the building as she did.

Rosita hoisted her skirts and took off running, axe still in hand. “And then it’s going to go out the window on the other side, and those idiots will fall to their deaths.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Rose muttered, chasing after the other woman.

oOoOo

The Doctor watched the ground fall away as they were dragged up the wall by the Cyber-creature. He could feel Rose’s exasperation and knew he’d better find a way to make it back to Earth with minimal damage.

“Perhaps if you could pull?” the other man suggested through gritted teeth.

“I am pulling,” the Doctor protested. “In this position, I couldn’t not pull, could I?”

The Cyber-creature leapt through a window, and the Doctor winced when the rope tugged through his fingers, leaving rope burn on the palms of his hands.

For a moment, they were simply dangling in mid-air. The other man looked down at the Doctor. “Then I suggest you let go, sir.”

The Doctor shook his head. The whole ridiculous adventure had made him almost certain this was a future regeneration. Who else would try something like this? He wondered briefly where Rose was, but then it clicked. _Rosita must be Rose._

“I’m not letting you out of my sight, Doctor. Don’t you recognise me?”

The man frowned, confusion cutting deep furrows in his forehead. “No, should I? Have we met? This is hardly the right time for me to go through my social calenda- _ahhhhh_.” The other Doctor’s sentence cut off on a scream as they suddenly started racing up the side of the building again.

_Hold on, Doctor,_ Rose told him. _Rosita and I have a plan._

The Doctor groaned as he was yanked through the window frame, bumping his shoulder against the stone casement. _Believe me, I’m not letting go._

He grunted when he hit the floor hard enough to make his teeth rattle. The Cyber-creature raced across the abandoned warehouse, dragging both men along the floor behind it.

The Doctor scanned their surroundings quickly. He spotted the window on the opposite wall, and noted with some concern that their current trajectory was heading straight for it.

“It’s going to jump!” he shouted.

“We’re gonna fall!” the other man yelled, clearly having reached the same conclusion.

The Doctor frantically tried to get the rope untangled from his arm, but it was pulled so tight by the tension from the creature running that he didn’t have any luck.

_Any update on that plan of yours, Rose?_

_We’ve got you covered,_ she promised.

A moment later, the Cyber-creature jumped out the window. The Doctor watched the window get closer and closer, and was nearly braced for the inevitable flight and the painfully abrupt landing when an axe swung through the air and cut through the rope.

The Doctor landed flat on his back, staring dazedly up at the ceiling. Rose’s worried face came into view, and he blinked up at her.

“Hello.”

She shook her head and held out her hand, and he let her pull him to his feet. A moment later, she had him wrapped in a tight hug.

“If you ever lecture me on looking before I leap…” she mumbled.

The Doctor chuckled breathlessly. “Point taken,” he admitted. He could feel the strained muscles in his back and legs complaining about his recklessness. He squeezed her once, then stepped around her to hold out his hand to the other Doctor.

The man looked at it for a moment, then disregarded it, pulling the Doctor in for a hug. The giddiness of the moment returned, and they both laughed.

Rosita dropped the axe on the floor, and a metallic clang echoed in the empty room. The Doctors looked at her, glaring down at them with her hand on her hip, and they broke into a new fit of laughter.

Rose rubbed at her temple. “Come on, you two,” she said. “Let’s get out of here and see if we can’t figure out what that thing was and why it was in London.”

The Doctor nodded and put his hand in the small of her back as she led the way towards the stairs she and Rosita had climbed only a few minutes before.

Behind him, the other Doctor was still giggling over their misadventure.

“Well, I’m glad you think it’s so funny,” Rosita snapped as they reached the ground. She spun and pointed at both men. “You’re mad. Both of you. You could’ve got killed.”

“But evidently we did not,” the other Doctor said brightly.

The insouciant dismissal almost made the Doctor think this was a _previous_ regeneration that he’d somehow forgotten. He hadn’t been that devil-may-care in a very long time. As they gathered around a fire burning in a barrel, the Doctor studied his counterpart carefully.

Unaware of his musings, the other Doctor continued. “Oh, I should introduce Rosita.” He rested his hand lightly on Rosita’s shoulder. “My faithful companion. Always telling me off.”

The Doctor nodded slowly, but his mind was twisting, trying to process that. If Rosita was Rose regenerated, why would he call her a companion? He narrowed his eyes and stared at his counterpart. There was no love in his eyes when he looked at Rosita; nothing more than respect and friendship.

“Well they do, don’t they?” he said belatedly. He smiled at Rosita. “Hello, Rosita. Nice to meet you, for the first time.”

Rosita huffed and rolled her eyes at him, which the Doctor supposed was fair enough, since in her way of thinking this was the first time they’d met.

“Huh. Now I’ll have to go and dismantle the traps,” she snapped at the other Doctor, who studiously avoided looking at her. “All that for nothing. And we’ve only got twenty minutes till the funeral, don’t forget.” She walked off, presumably to undo the traps. “Then back to the TARDIS, right?” she called out over her shoulder.

“Funeral?” the Doctor asked his future regeneration.

The other man rotated his arm, clearly still feeling the effects of being dragged across the floor. “Oh, long story. Not my own, not yet.” He groaned and reached under his coat to massage at his sore shoulder. “Oh, I’m not as young as I was.”

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. A Time Lord’s physiology should have started repairing itself as soon as the injury was incurred. He could hardly feel the aches anymore.

_But then, he’s older…_ “Well, not as young as you were when you were me,” he mused.

The other man had bent over and rested his weight on his knees, but that comment brought his head up. “When I was who?”

The Doctor frowned. “You really don’t recognise me?”

The other Doctor straightened up, a smile on his face. “Not at all.”

Rose had watched the entire conversation with growing irritation. The Doctor was so caught up with this man he thought was a future regeneration that he hadn’t noticed she was trying to get his attention.

Finally, she abandoned telepathy and went for the far less subtle method of hissing his name. “Doctor!”

He blinked down at her. “What?”

Rose started to answer, then glanced at the man who claimed to be the Doctor. _That’s not you,_ she told her Doctor silently, wanting to keep a few of their cards close to the vest. The other man didn’t _seem_ dangerous, but just in case…

The Doctor’s mouth fell open, and he looked from Rose to the other man and back again. _But he says he’s the Doctor. He has a sonic screwdriver and a TARDIS. And Rosita… she could be a future you._

_I can’t feel him in my head. No familiarity, and no echo like I get when there are two of you._

He snapped his mouth shut. There really was no arguing with that point, after all. And come to think of it, he hadn’t felt anything from Rosita, either. It hadn’t occurred to him because he’d never personally experienced that echo.

The other man looked at the two of them, confusion on his face. “No, I don’t recognise you,” he repeated, more slowly this time. “And in fact, I don’t recall you introducing yourself before we were unceremoniously dragged up the side of the wall. Who are you, sir? And who is your companion?”

The Doctor tugged on his ear. If this wasn’t himself, then… He looked at Rose, and she nodded slightly.

“Oh, I’m… I’m just Tyler. John Tyler. But I’ve heard all about you, Doctor. Bit of a legend, if I say so myself.”

Rose nudged him in the ribs for that bit of arrogance, and he shot her a grin.

“And this is my wife, Rose.”

The man turned to Rose, and not a hint of recognition sparked in his eyes. Any doubts the Doctor might have had were banished when he saw that—he might forget himself, might forget his own past, but he could never forget Rose. Even his first incarnation had known somehow that she was significant to him, from the very moment they met.

The man who wasn’t the Doctor bowed to Rose, who inclined her head in return. Then he turned back to the Doctor, addressing himself to the one he considered his equal.

“I apologise for not recognising you, sir,” he said. “But great swathes of my life have been stolen away. When I turn my mind to the past, there’s nothing.”

The Doctor studied the other man. The bleakness in his eyes didn’t come from a lost memory.

“Going how far back?” he probed. Perhaps this was why the TARDIS had suggested coming to this Christmas?

“Since the Cybermen.”

Rose and the Doctor both sucked in a breath. They hadn’t seen Cybermen since the near disaster at Canary Wharf.

“Masters of that hellish wall-scuttler and old enemies of mine, now at work in London town.” He looked around the alleyway, as if not wanting to be overheard. “You won’t believe this, Mr. and Mrs. Tyler,” he said confidentially, “but they are creatures from another world.”

The Doctor rocked back on his heels and tried to look shocked. “Really. Wow.”

_You’re absolutely positive he isn’t me?_ the Doctor asked Rose, despite being certain himself only a moment before.

She nodded. _I can always tell when there are two of you nearby. Right now… nothing._ She looked at the other man, then back at the Doctor. _I don’t know how he knows so much about our life, but he isn’t you._

The telepathic exchange only took a few seconds, so they didn’t miss the rest of the other man’s story.

“It’s said they fell onto London, out of the sky in a blaze of light.” He paused, and the same bleakness the Doctor had noticed before returned. “And they found me.” He looked into the fire crackling in the barrel, clearly trying to cast his mind back to those lost memories. “Something was taken. And something was lost.”

A new explanation for this man’s confusion and memory loss crept into the Doctor’s mind. The bleak sorrow, the gaps in his memories…

Before he could really consider the possibility, the other man looked up at him, hope shining in his eyes. “What was I like, in the past?”

Rose reached around the Doctor and rested her hand on the other man’s arm. “You know we can’t tell you that, Doctor,” she said gently. “Memory loss is so fragile. One wrong word, and we could ruin your chances of recovering them at all.”

The other man nodded, seeming to accept Rose’s explanation without argument. “It’s strange, though,” he mused. “I talk of Cybermen from the stars and neither of you blink.”

Rose smiled at him, a soft, teasing smile. “Well, we did say we knew you,” she pointed out.

The other man nodded absently, then jolted. “Oh, the funeral! The funeral’s at two o’clock. It’s been a pleasure, Mr. and Mrs. Tyler.” He backed up, pointing a warning finger at him. “Don’t breathe a word of it.”

“Oh, but can’t we come with you?” the Doctor asked as the other man started to turn away.

He shook his head. “It’s far too dangerous. Rest assured, I shall keep this city safe.” He started to run off, then turned and grinned at them, suddenly the whimsical man they’d met. “Oh, and, er Merry Christmas, Mr. and Mrs. Tyler.”

The Doctor rocked back on his heels. “Merry Christmas, Doctor,” he called after the other man.

Rose raised an eyebrow, and he shrugged. “Well, he thinks that’s his name,” he pointed out. “What else am I supposed to call him?”

She sighed. “True. Hopefully we can help him find his lost past.”

“And solve the mystery of what the Cybermen are doing in Victorian London,” the Doctor added grimly.

Rose shivered. “That’s why I’ve had that skin-crawly feeling the whole time we’ve been here, isn’t it? This isn’t supposed to be happening, and if we don’t stop it, it’ll rewrite the whole future.”

The Doctor nodded. “Including several fixed points. Imagine… Imagine no Dunkirk,” he offered. “No _R101_ or _Titanic_. All those fixed points collapse if history is rewritten to this extent.”

Rose rubbed her hands over her arms, chilled despite the woollen cloak she wore. Then she took the Doctor’s hand. “Well then, we’d better get after him, hadn’t we?”

It wasn’t hard to catch up with the other Doctor. The funeral procession was only a few streets away, but despite his preoccupation with the service, the other man could be seen slinking towards the back of the dead man’s house after the procession moved down the street.

_Taking advantage of the fact that it’s bound to be empty during the funeral,_ the Doctor realised as he and Rose followed the other man.

_Bit morbid._ Rose shuddered.

The Doctor shrugged. _But practical,_ he pointed out.

The other man and Rosita were standing by the corner of the house, watching the funeral procession leave. “The late Reverend Fairchild, leaving his place of residence for the last time,” he said as the black funeral carriage rolled by. “God rest his soul. Now, with the house empty, I shall effect an entrance at the rear while you go back to the TARDIS. This is hardly work for a woman.”

Rosita and Rose both huffed at the same time. “Oh, don’t mind me saving your life. That’s work for a woman, isn’t it?”

The Doctor quickly grabbed Rose’s hands before she could clap and give them away.

The other man stopped and looked at his companion, clearly baffled by her argument. “The Doctor’s companion does what the Doctor says.”

Rose snorted, and the Doctor stilled when the other man’s head whipped around, following the sound. He didn’t seem to see them, however, because he turned back to Rosita.

“Off you go,” he ordered.

The Doctor looked down at Rose, then nodded after Rosita. _Keep an eye on her,_ he requested. _Follow her back to this TARDIS of theirs. I’ll search the house with our friend here._

Rose nodded. She stretched up and pressed a kiss to the Doctor’s cheek. _Be careful,_ she said sternly. _If there are Cybermen in London…_

He smiled, then brushed a tender caress over the bond. _Of course, love. You take care, too._

Rose hurried after Rosita, and the Doctor turned back to the house in question. The other Doctor was heading for the back door, but he opted for the front door. Sometimes that was the least obvious way to break into a place.

Inside the house, he used the sonic again to lock the door behind him. Faint scratching noises caught his ear, and he followed them back to the back door.

He pulled the door open and tried not to smirk at the gobsmacked expression on the other man’s face. “Hello.”

“How did you get in?” the other man asked, almost indignantly.

The Doctor jerked his thumb in the direction of the front door. “Oh, front door. I’m good at doors.” He spotted something in the other man’s hands and blinked rapidly. “Er, do you mind my asking, is that your sonic screwdriver?”

A relieved smile crossed the other man’s face. “Yes.” He held up the old-fashioned screwdriver. “I’d be lost without it.”

“But that’s a screwdriver.” The Doctor’s gaze flicked from the screwdriver to the other man’s face. “How’s it sonic?”

A frown furrowed the other man’s brow. “Well, er, it makes a noise.” He tapped it against the side of the door jamb. “That’s sonic, isn’t it?” Before the Doctor could respond, he glowered at him. “Now, since we’re acting like common burglars, I suggest we get out of plain view.”

_Fair point._ The Doctor stepped back so the other man could enter the house. He was still stuck on the revelation that the sonic screwdriver was nothing more than a generic screwdriver, and he tried to redirect his thoughts by asking a question.

“This investigation of yours, what’s it about?”

The other man darted over to a desk and pulled a drawer out. “It started with a murder,” he said as he rifled through the papers.

“Oh, good.”

The rustling stopped, and the Doctor realised what he’d said. “I mean, bad,” he amended, and the other man’s shock faded. “But whose?”

He went back to rummaging through the drawers, picking up a pocketbook and throwing it back down immediately. “Mr Jackson Lake, a teacher of mathematics from Sussex. He came to London three weeks ago and died a terrible death.”

“Cybermen?” the Doctor asked.

The other man sighed and looked at him wearily. “It’s hard to say. His body was never found. But then it started. More secret murders, then abductions. Children, stolen away in silence.”

The last was said slowly, deliberately, as if the words were too painful to bear. Then he spun away from the desk and picked up a book, flipping through the pages with shaking hands.

“So whose house is this?” the Doctor asked, partly to distract the other man from whatever melancholy grief had momentarily taken hold of him.

“The latest murder.”

The Doctor turned and leaned back against the desk while he listened to the description.

“The Reverend Aubrey Fairchild, found with burns to his forehead, like some advanced form of electrocution.”

The method of murder was intriguing, but the Doctor still felt like there was something he was missing. “But who was he? Was he important?”

The other man looked up suddenly, a furrow between his brows. “You ask a lot of questions.”

The Doctor shrugged and spread his hands out in front of himself. “I’m your companion.”

The other man gave a soft, amused huff before continuing with his explanation. “The Reverend was the pillar of the community, a member of many parish boards. A keen advocate of children’s charities.”

“Children again,” the Doctor mused, feeling like they were circling around the truth. “But why would the Cybermen want him dead? And what’s his connection to the first death, this Jackson Lake?”

While the Doctor rattled off the questions, the other man turned slowly and walked towards him, his eyes squinting perplexedly. “It’s funny,” he whispered when the Doctor stopped talking. “I seem to be telling you everything, as though you engendered some sort of trust. You seem familiar, Mr. Tyler. I know your face. But how?”

“I wonder.” A detail that had previously escaped him jumped out at the Doctor, and his hearts lurched at the possibilities it presented. “I can’t help noticing you’re wearing a fob watch.”

_Maybe this is just a human version of my future self, and Rosita is a fobbed Rose._

Of course, the last time he and Rose had used the Chameleon Arch, the bond had remained intact. But technology didn’t always work the way it was supposed to. Perhaps this time, something had gone wrong. His true self might be buried so deeply in his own mind that even Rose couldn’t detect it, and likewise between himself and Rosita.

Memories had seeped through that time, in the form of dreams. If this was truly him, that would explain why he knew certain words, like sonic screwdriver, but didn’t have the actual device to go along with it.

The other Doctor looked down at his watch, then back at the Doctor, eyes wide. “Is that important?”

The Doctor straightened and stepped towards the other man. “Legend has it that the memories of a Time Lord can be contained within a watch.” He kept his voice soft and steady, but the other man still started breathing more heavily. The Doctor held out his hand, hoping he would comply. “Do you mind?”

The other man swallowed hard and pulled the watch out of his pocket. The Doctor took it and held it up between them.

“It’s said that if it’s opened—” He flipped open the watch cover, but no golden light streamed out of it. Just gears and works. “Oh. Maybe not.”

The other man sighed, his features relaxing. “It was more for decoration.”

The Doctor nodded. “Yeah.”

Truthfully, he wasn’t overly disappointed that his theory had been proven wrong. The notion of Rose regenerating was still unproven. If this man was a future regeneration, but Rosita wasn’t Rose… The Doctor shuddered.

The possibility that the grief of losing her had broken his mind and stolen his memories had occurred to him, but without the Time Lord consciousness hidden away in the watch, it was a moot point.

He reached for the reassuring presence of Rose in his mind as he spun away from this man who was apparently not him. He could feel her curiosity, and he knew that she and Rosita must be having an interesting talk, back at this mysterious TARDIS.

“Anyway, alien infiltration,” the Doctor said briskly, pacing around the room.

“Yes,” his companion agreed, equally willing to leave the conversation behind. “Just look for anything different. Possibly metal. Anything that doesn’t seem to belong. Perhaps a mechanical device that could fit no earthly engine.”

The Doctor smirked and pulled out his sonic screwdriver so he could scan the room. _Definitely not an earthly device._

The other man kept rambling as he rummaged through the drawers. “It could even seem to be organic, but unlike any organism of the natural world. Shush! What’s that noise?”

The Doctor flipped his screwdriver and slid it back into his pocket before he turned around. “Oh, it’s just me, whistling.” He pursed his lips and whistled, trying to mimic the hum of the sonic.

The other man scowled and closed a drawer more forcefully than was necessary. The Doctor nodded, then pointed at the desk behind him. “I wonder what’s in here, though.”

He pulled open the drawer he’d just unlocked and sucked in a breath. Whatever he’d expected to find locked away in the roll-top desk, it wasn’t a stash of Dalek info stamps.

“Ah. Different and metal, you were right.” He pulled out two of the metal cylinders. “They are info stamps,” he explained, then realised his mistake almost immediately. “I mean, at a guess,” he backtracked, waiting for the suspicion to disappear from the other man’s face. “If I were you, I’d say they worked something like this.”

He pressed the smaller end of one, and it projected images onto the wall from the other end. “See? Compressed information. Tons of it.”

The Doctor put on his glasses as William Shakespeare’s face flashed across the wall. “That is the history of London, 1066 to the present day. This is like a disc, a Cyberdisc. But why would the Cybermen need something so simple? They’ve got to be wireless. Unless, they’re in the wrong century. They haven’t got much power. They need plain old basic info stamps to update themselves.”

He suddenly realised that his companion had been uncharacteristically silent as he babbled. Looking to his left, he saw the other man slumped in a chair, staring at the other info stamp he held in his hands.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” he said, but his hoarse voice said otherwise.

“No, what is it?” The Doctor knelt in front of him and saw the same grief on the other man’s face that had appeared before. “What’s wrong?”

The other man took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders. “I’ve seen one of these before. I was holding this device the night I lost my mind. The night I regenerated.”

The word hung in the air for a few moments, the Doctor trying to piece together who exactly this man was, and the other man lost in his memories.

“The Cybermen, they made me change. My mind, my face, my whole self. And you were there.” He reached out and pressed his hand to the Doctor’s face. “Who are you?”

The Doctor looked at this man who was not himself, but had somehow gotten pulled into his life. “A friend. I swear.”

“Then I beg you, John,” he sobbed. “Help me.”

“Ah. Two words I never refuse.” The Doctor smiled reassuringly, then jumped to his feet. “But it’s not a conversation for a dead man’s house. Rose and Rosita are waiting for us back at your TARDIS.”

But there was one thing still nagging at him—why were there info stamps in a Victorian reverend’s house?

“Hold on,” he told the other man, still sitting down. “I just need to do a little final check. Won’t take a tick.” He jogged around the room, opening all the doors. “There’s one more thing I cannot figure. If this room’s got info stamps, then maybe, just maybe, it’s got something that needs info-stamping.”

He was looking back over his shoulder at the other man while he opened one last door, and when he turned to check what was on the other side, his hearts started racing. A Cyberman looked back at him, still as a statue but obviously active.

“Okay.” He slammed the door shut and ran for the other man. “I think we should run.”

Behind him, he heard the door break down. The other man still hadn’t moved yet, and the Doctor grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him to his feet.

“Run, Doctor! Now, Doctor!”

The metal clomping of a Cyberman followed them as they ran. “Delete.”

The Doctor slammed a door shut behind him, then locked it with the sonic screwdriver. At least if the Cyberman had to knock it down, that would slow it down some.

He grabbed the other man by the shoulder and started hurrying him down the hallway. They’d only gone a few steps when another Cyberman appeared in front of them.

“The Doctor will be deleted.”

The Doctor spun back around, taking them into the open entry room of the house. The Cyberman he’d locked in the living room knocked the door down just as they arrived.

“Delete.”

There were only two directions to go, and one of them was not an option. “Stairs!” the Doctor yelled, pushing the other man towards them. “Can’t lead them outside!”

He reached blindly into the umbrella stand at his side and grabbed the first thing he laid his hands on. Holding it up, he realised it was just an umbrella—not really surprising to find in an umbrella stand.

He opened it, then flung it away from himself and grabbed a sword off the wall instead.

_Doctor! What are you doing?_

The Doctor grinned at the oncoming Cyberman. _Oh, just engaging in a duel with a Cyberman,_ he said blithely. _Nothing to worry about._

“Delete.”

Rose restrained her worry as much as she could, and the Doctor focused on the two Cybermen closing in on him.

“I’m a dab hand with a cutlass,” he warned, pointing the sword first at one, then at the other. “You don’t want to come near me when I’ve got one of these.”

Both Cybermen took another step, clearly not seeing a threat in a simple metal sword.

The Doctor gulped and waved the sword again. “This is your last warning. No? Okay, this is really your last warning!” The Cybermen were only a step away from him, and he whirled around and raced up the stairs. “Okay, I give up.”

“Delete.”

He stopped at the first landing, shielding the human man from the Cybermen. “Listen to me properly. Whatever you’re doing stuck in 1851, I can help!” A Cyberman tried to reach for him, and he parried the metal arm with the cutlass. “I mean it. I’m the only person in the world who can help you! Listen to me!”

The metal-on-metal clang of a sword fight filled the room, but the metal body of the Cyberman protected them from harm, just as had been originally intended.

The Doctor retreated under the constant advance of the Cybermen. His hearts raced as he tried to find some way out of the situation he’d trapped himself and his companion in, but despite his words to Rose, he truly didn’t know how he was going to get out of this.

“Delete.”

The Doctor caught one more blow with the sword and used all his strength to keep that arm from coming down to kill him.

“I’m the Doctor,” he growled. “You need me. Check your memory banks. My name’s the Doctor. Leave this man alone. The Doctor is me!”

The Doctor was practically lying down on the stairs, and that gave him the leverage to lift up a foot and kick the Cyberman down the stairs. It collided with the other Cyberman, sending them both staggering back a few steps.

They quickly regained their balance and started climbing the stairs again. “Delete.”

“The Doctor, remember?” the Doctor yelled, scrambling up a few steps. “I’m the Doctor! You need me alive. You need the Doctor, and that’s me!”

Once again, the Doctor held a Cyberman back with nothing but the sword. If he couldn’t push them back down, they were cornered.

The Cyberman finally broke through his hold, shoving him back and making him trip on the last stair. The Doctor sprawled on the floor and looked up at the advancing Cyberman.

“Delete.”

Their emotionless directive sounded almost victorious this time. The Doctor scooted back across the floor, his eyes darting back and forth, but there was no way out.

Just as he reached for Rose to tell her how sorry he was, a bright light flashed behind him. The Doctor looked over his shoulder and saw the other man, holding the info stamp and pointing the beam of energy directly in the Cybermen’s faces.

The Doctor quickly scrambled to his feet and out of the way, knowing what was about to happen. Sure enough, the two Cybermen fell to their knees with their heads in their hands. A moment later, their heads exploded.

He panted a few times, willing his hearts to slow and sending a reassurance of safety to pass over the bond to Rose. Then he looked at the other man, who was staring at the device in his hands.

“Info stamp with a Cyclo-Steinham core. You ripped open the core and broke the safety.”

Who was this man, who came up with solutions that only he would think of?

The other man didn’t share any of his exultation over their incredible escape. Instead, he was staring at the info stamp as if it were radioactive.

“I did that last time,” he murmured, once again lost in his missing memories.

The Doctor put his hands on the other man’s shoulders and looked into his eyes. “Come on,” he said bracingly. “You’ll be okay.”

His companion shrugged him off. “You told them you were the Doctor. Why did you do that?”

The Doctor tugged on his ear. “Oh, I was just protecting you,” he lied.

“You’re trying to take away the only thing I’ve got, like they did,” he accused, gesturing at the destroyed Cybermen behind them. “They stole something, something so precious, but I can’t remember.” He swallowed a few times to choke back the tears, then looked into the Doctor’s eyes. “What happened to me? What did they do?”

_“They stole something.”_

A pit opened in the Doctor’s stomach. He’d seen the confusion and grief on his companion’s face from time to time this afternoon, but the abject despair in his eyes was new. Something had indeed been taken from him, and whatever it was, it had broken his mind so completely that he had retreated into a different life—into the Doctor’s life.

But until he knew the details, the Doctor knew his companion wouldn’t accept that truth. Instead, he offered the only reply he could.

“We’ll find out,” he said sincerely. “You and me together.”


	7. The Missing Life of Jackson Lake

Chapter Seven: The Missing Life of Jackson Lake

Keeping up with Rosita was harder than Rose had expected. She did plenty of running, but never in a Victorian dress and fussy dress boots.

Rosita turned a corner about fifty metres away, and Rose hitched her skirts up higher so she could put on some speed. But as she turned the same corner, the heel of her boot caught on a cobblestone and nearly sent her to the ground.

She pinwheeled her arms and managed to stay upright. As soon as she’d regained her balance, she scanned the street, looking for Rosita.

“Why are you following me?”

Rose turned around and faced Rosita, standing on the kerb with her hands crossed over her chest. Rose brushed a piece of lint off her coat. “John’s gone off to do his own thing, so I thought maybe you might want company.” She gave the other woman a wry smile. “I imagine the Doctor’s done the same, hasn’t he?”

Rosita rolled her eyes and gave an annoyed huff. “He’s gone off to do some investigating. Told me to go back to the Tardis.”

“Of course.” Rose snorted. “Because it’s quite all right for you to be the bait for big metal dog things running through London, but if there’s anything actually interesting going on, that’s no place for a woman. Am I right?”

A hint of grudging respect entered Rosita’s eyes. “Never mind the fact that I save his life all the bloody time. If he’s going to do anything interesting, like break into a house, I’m sent back to the Tardis like a child.”

Rose shook her head and made a soft sound of commiseration. Even though it had been years since the Doctor had treated her so dismissively, she remembered how much it had frustrated her.

Rosita shrugged. “Well, as long as you’re already here, I’ll show you where we’ve been staying, and where we keep the Tardis.”

Rose followed her into a narrow alley. “How did you meet—you and the Doctor?”

Rosita slowed until they were walking side by side. Rose saw the remembered fear on her face, and she had a hunch she knew how that meeting had gone.

“He saved my life,” Rosita said, confirming her suspicions. “Late one night, by the Osterman’s Wharf, this creature came out of the shadows. A man made of metal. I thought I was going to die. And then, there he was. The Doctor.”

Rose shivered. “That’s how I met John,” she shared. “I was working in a shop, cleaning up after we’d closed, and this creature started after me. I was backed against a wall, and then a hand grabbed mine.”

She smiled involuntarily. Everything had changed in that moment.

“I looked over, and there he was, this ridiculous grin on his face. He told me to run, and I suppose we’ve never really stopped.”

“Always running,” Rosita agreed. She held up her hand, and Rose stopped obediently. “Wait here while I go see if the Tardis is ready.”

“Ready?” Rose asked, but she was asking air, because Rosita had already left.

Rose shrugged, then focused on the Doctor’s presence in her mind. _Rosita’s telling me more about the man she calls the Doctor,_ she told him. _He certainly seems to have your flair for dramatic rescues._

_Do you think it’s possible we used the Chameleon Arch again?_ The Doctor let her see the fob watch he’d discovered in the other man’s pocket.

Rose glanced over at Rosita. The story she’d told of how her Doctor had rescued her was so very similar—maybe this was actually herself, filling in the blanks of her life with stories from her dreams? It had happened once before.

She held her breath while the Doctor tested his theory, and let it out slowly when the watch turned out to be nothing more than a watch. That would have explained the memories, but it would have created a whole host of other problems. For instance, if they were playing human, where was the companion watching out for them?

Rose wouldn’t pretend she wasn’t grateful the watch turned out to just be a watch. Even the Doctor didn’t mind that theory being proven wrong. There were simply too many unknown variables.

“Rose?”

Rose spun around.

Rosita gestured behind her. “She’s ready.”

Now that Rose was once again convinced this man could not be the Doctor, she was dying to know what exactly his Tardis was. She followed Rosita eagerly through some stables and out the door on the other side of the building, then stopped when she saw the Tardis.

The stables belonged to an inn that sat on one side of a small square. The open space was currently dominated by an enormous hot air balloon. The basket was tied down, but the balloon itself was inflated and floated above the rooftops.

“You’ve got a hot air balloon,” she said.

Rosita nodded. “This is the Tardis. I can’t remember what it stands for. The Doctor could tell you.”

“Where do you live?” Rose asked. “Surely you can’t both sleep in the basket.”

Rosita laughed. “No, but the Doctor wants to stay close.” She pointed at the stables they’d just walked through. “The innkeeper lets us sleep in the old stables. He used to keep mail horses, but he doesn’t anymore.”

Before Rose could follow Rosita into the abandoned stable, a shot of adrenaline over the bond had her tensed to run. She waited a few moments for some kind of explanation, and when one didn’t seem forthcoming, she asked for one.

_Doctor! What are you doing?_

_Oh, just engaging in a duel with a Cyberman_. _Nothing to worry about._

Rose clenched her hands into the fabric of her skirt. Nothing to worry about, her arse. Not even the sharpest cutlass would do any good against the armoured body of a Cyberman.

_Go protect him._ The urge was so strong, she’d actually taken a few steps toward the street before she realised it was futile. He was too far away, and it wasn’t like the Cybermen would pause their attack until she got there.

“Rose? Are you coming?”

Rose closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Then she forced a smile to her face and turned back to Rosita. “Yeah, of course.”

oOoOo

The Doctor struggled to match his stride to the other man’s slightly slower pace. Rose’s lingering fear called to him, but he couldn’t let on that he knew exactly where the other man’s lodgings were.

Finally, the alley they were following opened up into a small courtyard with a stable. The stable doors flew open, and the Doctor braced himself and opened his arms just in time for Rose to run into them.

_I’m sorry, love._ He kissed her temple, and Rose snuggled further into his embrace. _I wouldn’t have gone in without a plan if I’d known there were Cybermen in the house._

Rose snorted, and he hid a grin. They both knew it wouldn’t have stopped him from going in—he just would have made sure he had a plan.

_You wouldn’t have gone in without me,_ she corrected.

Their amusement broke the tension, and Rose stepped back. The Doctor smirked when he realised Rosita and his companion were both looking away, embarrassment written across their faces.

_I believe we’ve offended their sense of decorum,_ he told Rose in delight.

Rose shook her head, then glanced at Rosita. “I think the next time, they ought to take us with them. Don’t you, Rosita? Instead of letting us sit here for hours, wondering if they were alive or dead.”

Rosita spun around and nodded vehemently. “He’s always doing this, leaving me behind. Going frantic.”

“You were right though, Rosita,” the other man said. “The Reverend Fairchild’s death was the work of the Cybermen.”

Rosita crossed her arms over her chest. “All the more reason for you to not go after them all on your own.”

Rose slid her hand into the Doctor’s. “While you were off fighting Cybermen, Rosita showed me the Tardis,” she told the Doctor.

The Doctor glanced sideways at her. Rose was trying not to laugh, and he wondered exactly what this man had fashioned into his facsimile of a Tardis.

“Can I see?” he asked, shooting a smile at the other man.

Their host smiled broadly. “Mr. Tyler, it would be my honour.”

He led them through the stable to the open courtyard at the back where the mail coaches would have changed horses. “There she is,” he declared, throwing his arms out. “My transport through time and space. The Tardis.”

The Doctor blinked, but when he opened his eyes, the blue hot air balloon was still there. “The Tardis is a hot air balloon?”

“That’s right,” the other man said. “It stands for Tethered Aerial Release Developed In Style.”

“It certainly does have style,” the Doctor agreed.

“I love the colour,” Rose said. “Tardis blue.”

The other man’s eyes widened and he clapped his hands delightedly. “I like that! Tardis blue.”

The Doctor walked towards the tethered balloon, moving one of the ropes out of the way so he could get to the basket. “Nice one,” he said. “And is it inflated by gas, yeah?” he guessed after peering up into the balloon.

“We’re adjacent to the Mutton Street Gasworks,” the other man explained. “I pay them a modest fee.” He clapped a young man standing nearby on the shoulder. “Good work, Jed.”

The Doctor’s eyes widened when he saw the note the man put in Jed’s hand. Five pounds was a week’s wages or more in the 1850s.

“Glad to be of service, sir,” Jed said as he pocketed it.

Rose gaped. _Anyone would be glad to be of service for that kind of money._

_Indeed,_ the Doctor agreed. “You’ve got quite a bit of money,” he said to the faux Doctor.

The man shook his head. “Oh, you get nothing for nothing,” he said as he waved the stack of notes in his hand. “How’s that ripped panel, Jed?”

“All repaired. Should work a treat. You never know, maybe tonight’s the night, Doctor.” He cast a sideways glance at his benefactor and dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Imagine it, seeing Christmas from above.”

A gust of wind rippled through the silk balloon, but when the other man shook his head, the Doctor knew the craft wouldn’t be leaving the ground any time soon.

“Not just yet, I think. One day, I will ascend. One day soon.”

“You’ve never actually been up?” Rose asked.

Rosita sighed. “He dreams of leaving, but never does.”

“I can depart in the Tardis once London is safe,” the other man said firmly. “And finally, when I’m up there. Think of it, John. The time and the space.”

“All of time and space,” the Doctor murmured.

The other man gestured back at the stable. “Come. Rosita and I don’t have much, but what we have, we will gladly share.”

The Doctor put his hand in the small of Rose’s back as they all filed into the stable. The space was lit by gas lamps, and a small fire burned in a brazier at one end.

“So, you live here?” he asked.

The other man had gone into a stall where a basin of water stood. “A temporary base, until we rout the enemy,” he explained as he washed his hands. “The Tardis is magnificent, but it’s hardly a home.”

The Doctor coughed. A hot air balloon might not be home, but the TARDIS certainly was.

He spun on his heel and scanned the stable quickly. “Er, what’s all this luggage?” he asked, spying a pile of suitcases and trunks stored in a stall.

“Evidence. The property of Jackson Lake, the first man to be murdered.”

The Doctor narrowed his eyes; it all seemed to come back to Jackson Lake. _Keep him distracted, Rose,_ he said, then he pulled the sonic out of his pocket and started to scan the luggage.

“How long have there been Cybermen in London?” Rose asked.

“I first became aware of them three weeks ago,” the other man answered.

The Doctor listened to the story with half an ear, but mostly, he focused on the luggage. _There’s something not right here,_ he mused. _According to this man, Jackson Lake was travelling alone. But why would one man have so much luggage?_

“Are you whistling again?”

The question pierced through the Doctor’s concentration. He quickly stuck the screwdriver back in his coat pocket and turned around. “Yes. Yes, I am, yeah. Yeah.”

Rosita raised an eyebrow, and the Doctor realised he’d been caught. He shook his head at her, then pried open the lid to a trunk and started rifling through the contents. Jackson Lake was the key to the riddle.

“That’s another man’s property,” Rosita protested.

The Doctor started to give a flippant response, then he caught Rose’s subtle head shake. “Yes, but I’m certain Jackson Lake would want us to do whatever was necessary to stop the Cybermen,” he told her instead.

Rosita seemed to unbend a little at that comment. She bit her lip and came closer to the Doctor, talking in a low voice. “Can you help him, sir? He has such terrible dreams. Wakes at night in such a state of terror.”

The Doctor stopped rummaging around in the trunk and looked at the other man. Pieces were starting to fall into place, and he honestly hoped he was wrong. But the missing memories, the false identity, the night terrors… He had a sinking feeling that he knew what had happened to Jackson Lake.

The other man smiled in embarrassment. “Come now, Rosita. With all the things a Time Lord has seen, everything he’s lost, he may surely have bad dreams.”

The Doctor and Rose exchanged a glance, memories of night terrors coming back to haunt them briefly. “Yeah…” The Doctor dug back into the trunk, and a moment later, his hand hit something cool and metal. He pulled it out, and his last doubts disappeared. “Oh, now. Look. Jackson Lake had an info stamp.”

The other man blinked. “But how? Is that significant?”

The Doctor sighed. “Let’s sit down. I have a story to tell.”

They gathered around the fire on benches. “Is this story going to explain why I cannot remember anything of my life beyond the last three weeks?”

“I’m afraid it is, but it isn’t a happy ending,” the Doctor warned.

The other man swallowed hard, but he nodded gamely. “Please tell me, sir. It is torture to know I am missing something, and not know what it is.”

The Doctor nodded. “All right. I’ve worked it out now—how you became the Doctor.”

Rose sat back and listened to the Doctor’s story. Parts of it she’d worked out herself, but she had a feeling the whole story was sadder than she’d imagined.

“The story begins with the Cybermen.” The Doctor leaned forward, resting his weight on his elbows. “A long time away, and not so far from here, the Cybermen were fought, and they were beaten. And they were sent into a howling wilderness called the Void, locked inside forever more.”

Rose shivered; memories of Canary Wharf rarely came up anymore, but when they did, she always felt the coldness of the room, the way the Void had tugged at her, trying to pull her in.

The Doctor took her hand and they offered each other strength.

“But then a greater battle rose up, so great that everything inside the Void perished. But, as the walls of the world weakened, the last of the Cybermen must have fallen through the dimensions, back in time, to land here. And they found you.”

_Just like Lee,_ Rose realised. _Falling through the cracks left by the Reality Bomb and getting stuck where they didn’t belong._ The Doctor nodded.

The other man frowned, his forehead creased as he tried to remember. “I fought them; I know that. But what happened?”

“At the same time, another man came to London,” the Doctor said, his voice so matter-of-fact that Rose knew they were getting to the worst part of the story. “Mr. Jackson Lake. Plenty of luggage, money in his pocket. Maybe coming to town for the winter season, I don’t know. But he found the Cybermen too. And just like you, exactly like you, he took hold of an info stamp.”

Rose watched Jackson Lake fight against the explanation the Doctor was offering.

“But he’s dead,” he protested. “Jackson Lake is dead. The Cybermen murdered him.”

“You said no body was ever found,” the Doctor pointed out gently. “And you kept all his suitcases, but you could never bring yourself to open them. I told you the answer was in the fob watch. Can I see?”

Jackson handed the watch to the Doctor, who turned it over. Two initials were engraved in script.

“JL,” Jackson whispered.

“The watch is Jackson Lake’s,” the Doctor said, not letting the other man hide from the truth they were all realising.

Rosita shook her head and looked up at Jackson. “Jackson Lake is you, sir?”

Jackson Lake shook his head. “But I’m the Doctor.”

The Doctor straightened up slowly and reached for the info stamp again. “You became the Doctor because the info stamp you picked up was a book about one particular man.”

He pressed the end of the cylinder and the info stamp projected its information on the wall. Rose smiled when her Doctor’s first incarnation appeared—the brusque older man who had told her when his birthday was.

“The Cybermen’s database,” the Doctor narrated. “Stolen from the Daleks inside the Void, I’d say, but it’s everything you could want to know about the Doctor.”

The projection cycled quickly through all of the Doctor’s past incarnations. Some Rose hadn’t met, though she recognised the fourth face with the long scarf. The fifth Doctor in his cricket gear and celery appeared next, reminding her of the first time she’d met a Doctor out of order.

Jackson gasped when they got to the current Doctor, with his pinstripes and fantastic hair. “That’s you,” he mumbled.

“Time Lord, TARDIS, enemy of the Cybermen.” The Doctor clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “The one and the only.” He turned off the info stamp and pointed it at Jackson Lake. “You see, the info stamp must have backfired. Streamed all that information about me right inside your head.”

Jackson Lake buried his face in his hands for a moment, then sat up slowly. “I am nothing but a lie.”

Rose grabbed his hand impulsively. “No, Jackson. Your name was a lie, but not you. Rosita told me how you saved her from the Cybermen. That bravery, it wasn’t a lie.”

The Doctor nodded. “Rose is right. Info stamps are just facts and figures, but you’re so much more than that. Defending London, building a Tardis? That’s all you.”

Jackson’s jaw trembled, so the force in his voice surprised Rose. “And what else? Tell me what else,” he demanded.

Rose started to ask what he meant, but the Doctor’s sadness stopped her. There was something more, something she didn’t understand yet.

“There’s still something missing, isn’t there?” the Doctor said, almost to himself.

Jackson straightened and glared at the Doctor. “I demand you tell me, sir. Tell me what they took.”

Rose put a hand over her mouth. She understood then, though she wished she didn’t.

The Doctor sat back slowly. He hated what he was about to do, even if it was what Jackson Lake needed. “Sorry. Really, I am so sorry,” he repeated, hoping Jackson believed him. He gestured at the luggage behind them. “But that’s an awful lot of luggage for one man.”

Jackson looked at the pile of luggage, and the Doctor’s hearts ached when the confusion in his eyes was slowly replaced by comprehension.

“Because an info stamp is plain technology. It’s not enough to make a man lose his mind. What you suffered is called a fugue. A fugue state, where the mind just runs away because it can’t bear to look back.”

Jackson closed his eyes and swayed slightly where he sat. The Doctor could easily imagine how he felt—the disorienting sensation of suppressed memories returning, the agony of grief ripping him back to reality. He’d experienced the same thing twice before, when he’d thought he’d lost Rose.

Rose stepped forward and took his hand again, and he squeezed hers gratefully before continuing. “You wanted to become someone else, because Jackson Lake had lost so much.”

Nearby church bells tolled the hour, breaking the quietude of the moment. “Midnight,” Rosita said. “Christmas Day.”

The bells seemed to wake Jackson Lake completely from the life he’d been hiding in. “I remember. Oh, my God.”

His face twisted in anger and grief, and the Doctor could only imagine the memories flooding back to him.

“Caroline.” The name, spoken softly, told them how much he’d loved her. “They killed my wife.” Speaking the words out loud finally broke him. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he leaned forward to hide his face in his hand. “They killed her,” he sobbed.

Rosita rubbed his back consolingly, while Rose pulled the Doctor into a telepathic embrace. _I’m right here,_ she reminded him, pressing her mental signature as firmly into his mind as she could. _I’m never going to leave you._

Her fierce reminders pulled him out of the flashback that had been threatening. He took a deep breath, then pressed a kiss to her hand.

Rose blinked when something started beeping. The Doctor straightened up and looked down at the info stamp in his hand. The blue light pulsed slightly in time to the beeping, but it wasn’t the only thing in the room that was making noise.

He reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out another info stamp, which she assumed he’d gotten from the Reverend’s house. And still there was yet more beeping.

They all followed the noise back to the luggage. The Doctor flipped open the lid of the top trunk and rummaged through the clothes. “Oh.” He pulled out something that looked like an ammunition magazine. “You found a whole cache of info stamps.”

“But what is it?” Rosita asked, rocking anxiously on the balls of her feet. “What’s that noise?”

“Activation. A call to arms.” The Doctor dropped the info stamps and ran for the door. “The Cybermen are moving!” he yelled as he ran.

Jackson Lake stood up slowly, and Rose didn’t quite know how to make out the look on his face. “You’ll follow him, of course,” he said. “I learned that much about him—there should be someone at his side.” His gaze shifted to Rosita. “Rosita can help you. She’s been with me throughout my adventures. Everything I know about the Cybermen in London, she knows.”

“Will you help us, Rosita?”

The woman stood up slowly, her gaze fixed on Jackson. She obviously didn’t want to leave him when he was still so upset, and Rose could easily understand that.

But Jackson Lake was an even braver man than she’d realised. His eyes were still glassy with tears, but resolve firmed his jaw. “Go,” he told Rosita.

She nodded, and Rose let out a breath. “Thank God,” she said fervently. “Come on, let’s go find the Doctor.” She shot Jackson Lake a grateful look as she raced out of the stable with Rosita on her heels.

oOoOo

The Doctor left the stable at a dead run, careening around a corner as he made his way towards the busier streets. He had to find out where the Cybermen were going before they lost the trail. Rose wouldn’t be far behind.

He skidded to a halt in a snowy courtyard and looked both ways, trying to guess which way to go. Finally, shadows on the wall showed him the way… but they weren’t shadows of Cybermen.

The Doctor gritted his teeth. He’d seen this before, in Pete’s World. An army of humans, taken over by the earpods they’d been conned into wearing. Marched through the streets of London to their deaths in a Cybermen factory.

He strode across the courtyard and turned the corner, then stopped. The army of humans the Cybermen had captured was made up entirely of children. Fury rose sharply and stole his breath, and it was in that moment that Rose and Rosita reached him.

“What is it, Doctor?” Rose took his hand.

“That’s Mr. Cole,” Rosita said pointing to the gentleman in a top hat. “He’s Master of the Hazel Street Workhouse. Maybe he’s taking them to prayers.”

“Oh, nothing as holy as that.” The Doctor jogged after Cole. “Can you hear me? Hello? No?” A set of Victorian-looking earpods beeped and flashed in his ears. “Mr. Cole, you seem to have something in your ear. Now, this might hurt a bit, but if I can just—”

A harsh growl from the shadows stayed the Doctor’s hand that had been reaching for his sonic screwdriver. A Cyber-creature glowered at him from behind a building, and he slowly put his hand down.

“Ah. They’re on guard. Can’t risk a fight. Not with the children.”

“We need to figure out where they’re going,” Rose said. “We can find a way to rescue them there.”

The Doctor heard a man snort, and he spun around. The young man from the gas works had followed them out of the square. “Do you have something to offer, Jed?”

“These little ruffians.” He nodded towards the children, still marching by. “They all need a good whipping, if you ask me. There’s tons of them. I’ve just seen another lot coming down from the Ingleby Workhouse down Broadback Lane.”

“Where’s that?” the Doctor snapped.

“This way.” Rosita started running, and the Doctor and Rose chased after her.

Gas lamps flickered down on them as they raced through the alleyways. Rose swore under her breath when her skirts tried to get caught around her ankles. She hoisted them up to mid-calf and kept running.

They turned another corner and skidded to a halt. Once again, there was an army of children marching together, guided by another Victorian gentleman wearing earpods.

“There’s dozens of them,” Rosita said.

Rose shook her head. “Hundreds, more like.” She clenched her fists. The fear on the children’s faces was palpable.

“But what for?” the Doctor asked.

The last child walked by, and Rose jerked her head towards them. “Come on. One way to find out.”

They fell in line behind the children, staying just far enough behind that the Cyber-creature wouldn’t notice them. “You’re mad,” Rosita muttered. “Just like the Doctor…” She paused, then shrugged. “Or he was just like you, I guess.”

“Something like that,” the Doctor agreed awkwardly.

Rose wasn’t surprised when he changed the subject a moment later.

“Can you tell where they’re going, Rosita? It would need to be someplace large enough for all these children… Someplace no one would notice in the dead of night.”

Rosita slowed, and they all stopped while she looked around and considered. After a moment, she nodded. “The sewage works.”

The Doctor blew out a loud breath through his nose and raked his hand through his hair. “This still doesn’t make any sense,” he muttered. “Why children, and why a sewage plant?”

“We can figure it out when we get there, yeah?” Rose pointed behind them, where the sound of marching was fading away. “Come on, let’s go.”

They caught up just as the last of the children walked through a set of large wooden doors, followed by two Cybermen. Rose noticed the portcullis, ready to drop and bar anyone from entering.

“That’s the door to the sluice,” Rosita explained. “All the sewage runs through there, straight into the Thames.”

“That’d explain the smell, then,” Rose muttered.

The Doctor coughed to hide a laugh, then replied to Rosita. “Yeah, that’s too well guarded. We’ll have to find another way in.” He pointed at the narrow alley on the other side of the sewage plant, and Rose nodded.

Before they left their hiding place, he pulled out the info stamp with his own history. “Just a little trap,” he explained to Rose and Rosita as he used the sonic to reverse the polarity of the core. “They plug it in, and instead of information, they get a shock big enough to shut them down.” He dropped the altered info stamp into his pocket and grinned at the ladies. “Allons-y!”

They darted into the courtyard, but stopped when they saw a flash of metal. “Whoa!” the Doctor said, staring at the two Cybermen they had somehow missed. “That’s cheating, sneaking up. Do you have your legs on silent?”

A woman in a vivid scarlet gown walked slowly in front of them, stopping right in front of the two Cybermen. “So, what do we have here?” she asked.

The Doctor reached towards her, beckoning her to walk away from the Cybermen. “Listen.” He glanced at the Cybermen, who strangely didn’t seem to be interested in grabbing her. “Just walk towards me slowly. Don’t let them touch you.”

She didn’t move. “Oh, but they wouldn’t hurt me, my fine boys,” she drawled. “They are my knights in shining armour, quite literally.”

The Doctor shifted half a step towards her. “Even if they’ve converted you, that’s not a Cyber speech pattern. You’ve still got free will. I’m telling you, step away.”

“There’s been no conversion, sir.” Her voice was cold and resolute. The Doctor straightened when he understood what she was saying. “No one’s ever been able to change my mind. The Cybermen offered me the one thing I wanted. Liberation.”

“Who are you?” Rosita asked.

The woman sneered at her. “You can be quiet. I doubt he paid you to talk.”

“Oi!” Rose stepped forward. “I thought you wanted liberation.”

Her nostrils thinned slightly, then she focused on the Doctor, ignoring both women. “Who are you, sir, with such intimate knowledge of my companions?”

The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “I’m the Doctor.”

“Incorrect,” a Cyberman intoned. “You do not correspond to our image of the Doctor.”

The Doctor shrugged. “Yeah, but that’s because your database got corrupted. Oh, look, look, look. Check this.” He pulled the info stamp out of his pocket and held it up. “The Doctor’s info stamp.” He threw it at the closest Cyberman. “Plug it in. Go on. Download.”

The Cyberman inspected the info stamp. “The core has been damaged. This info stamp would damage Cyberunits.”

The Doctor shrugged and glanced over at Rose. “Oh, well. Nice try.”

The Cyberman pressed a button on the side of the info stamp. It buzzed quietly, and then the Cyberman said, “Core repaired. Download.” The Cybus Industries logo on his chest opened to reveal a data port, and he plugged in the info stamp.

There was a moment of silence while the information was downloaded to his brain, then he pulled it out and said, “You are the Doctor.”

The Doctor wiggled his fingers in a cheeky wave. “Hello.”

“You will be deleted.”

The Doctor waved his arms in front of himself. “No, no. Oh, but let me die happy. Tell me, what do you need those children for?”

The woman smirked at him. “What are children ever needed for? They’re a workforce.”

“What do you mean, a workforce?” Rose asked. Her anger matched his own, and the Doctor rested a hand on her shoulder. “Cybermen don’t keep human slaves.”

The woman raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand.” She tilted her head back, a cold smile on her face. “Very soon now, the whole Empire will see. And they will bow down in worship.”

The Doctor could feel Rose’s muscles tense under the hand he’d put on her shoulder. “And it’s all been timed for Christmas Day,” he said, thinking out loud. “Was that your idea, Miss…?”

She smirked. “Hartigan. Yes. The perfect day for a birth, with a new message for the people. Only this time, it won’t be the words of a man.”

The Doctor cocked his head. “The birth of what?”

“A birth, and a death,” she said, sidestepping the question. “Namely, yours. Thank you, Doctor. I’m glad to have been part of your very last conversation. Now, delete them.”

“Delete.” The Cybermen stomped forward, arming coming up to grab them by the shoulders.

The Doctor grabbed Rose’s hand and they backed away from the advancing Cybermen. Rosita scooted away behind them, and the Doctor looked around frantically for some way out.

_This feels familiar…_

And just like that afternoon, a pulse of energy struck the Cybermen’s heads. They crashed to their knees, metal hands to their heads, but there was no escape. The Doctor gaped as they slumped to the cobblestone street, dead.

Then he squinted through the smoke to see who’d come to their rescue. Jackson Lake holstered the info stamp back into the bandolier he wore.

“At your service, Doctor.”

“Shades! Shades!” Miss Hartigan yelled.

“Run!” The Doctor hurried Rosita forward, towards Jackson. Then he and Rose followed. “Come on!”

“Shades!” she screamed again.

Rosita slowed, and the Doctor tried to tug her along. She pulled away and strode towards Hartigan. “One last thing.” She pulled back her fist and struck her on the jaw.

“Oh, yes!” Rose crowed. “Well done!”

The Doctor floundered. “Yes, well… Come on!”

The four of them ran down the street and into a small alcove where they could hide from any Cybershades. “What next, Doctor?” Rose asked.

“That stronghold down by the river. I need to find a way in.”

“I’m ahead of you,” Jackson said. “My wife and I were moving to London so I could take up a post at the university. And while my memory is still not intact, this was in the luggage.” He pulled a folded sheaf of papers out of his jacket and handed them to the Doctor. “The deeds. Fifteen Latimer Street. And if I discovered the Cybermen there, in the cellar, then—”

“That might be our way in. Brilliant.”

“There’s still more,” Jackson whispered. “I remember the cellar and my wife, but I swear there was something else in that room. If we can find that, perhaps that’s the key to defeating these invaders. So, onwards!”


	8. The Feast of the Innocents

Chapter Eight

Jackson led the way down the street, with Rosita, the Doctor, and Rose jogging along behind him. Rose glanced over at the Doctor, wondering if he’d considered the problem they faced.

_How are we going to get rid of a whole battalion of Cybermen?_ Rose asked.

The Doctor shot her a sideways glance as they turned a corner and moved towards the river. _Remember what Mickey said when we were in Pete’s World?_

Rose had to think for a moment—that had been almost five years ago. But when she remembered, she rolled her eyes. _You’ll make it up as you go along, then?_ she guessed.

_And I’ll do it brilliantly,_ he added.

Jackson stopped in front of a modest townhouse. “This is it,” he said in a low voice. “And I seem to remember there’s a door into the cellar…” He crept along the right side of the house. “Yes! Right here.”

He reached for the handle, but the Doctor put his hand on the door before Jackson could open it. “If this is the entrance to their stronghold, there might be Cybermen standing guard.”

Jackson pulled one of the info stamps from his bandolier. “I’m ready, Doctor.” They traded places, and the Doctor opened the door so Jackson could go in first, info stamp at the ready.

Rose held her breath, and a moment later, she heard a Cyberman, followed by the electric buzz of an info stamp being discharged. “I think it’s safe,” she told Rosita, and they followed the Doctor and Jackson down the narrow stairs into the cellar.

When they entered the room, the Doctor was kneeling in front of a large device in the middle of the room. Its conical shape and large metal balls on the skirt reminded Rose of a Dalek, and the Doctor nodded.

“It must’ve been guarding this,” he said as he ran his hands over it. “A Dimension Vault. Stolen from the Daleks again. That’s how the Cybermen travelled through time.” He rocked back on his heels and looked up at Jackson. “Jackson, is this it? The thing you couldn’t remember?”

Jackson had barely moved from the foot of the stairs. “I don’t think so,” he mumbled as he shuffled into the room. “I just can’t see. It’s like it’s hidden.”

Rose narrowed her eyes and looked at him. He had the same lost look on his face as before, when he’d slowly remembered his wife. And if grief had kept him from remembering her, then maybe…

The Doctor looked over his shoulder at her, following her train of thought. _If that’s true, he needs to remember it in his own time, when his mind is ready,_ he said, and Rose nodded in agreement.

He leaned towards the device, putting his ear next to it. “Not enough power,” he said a moment later. He jumped to his feet and said, “Come on! Avanti!”

_Changing languages, Doctor?_ Rose teased. _French not good enough for you anymore?_

_Variety is the spice of life,_ he replied blithely.

The Doctor raced to the shadowy corner at the back of the cellar. _If I’m right…_ He grinned when he found a door.

“Come on!” He looked back at his companions. “This is our way in.”

Rose went through first. Her initial recoil passed over the bond, making the Doctor wrinkle his nose, too. “Oh, it reeks in here,” she said. “Quite the Christmas you’re giving me, Doctor.”

He shrugged, then gestured to Rosita. “Go ahead.” The maid rolled her eyes, but quickly followed after Rose.

Jackson followed, but he hesitated at the entrance and turned back to take one last look around the room. “There’s something more,” he muttered.

“Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out. Come on, let’s go!” Jackson disappeared into the tunnel and the Doctor followed him.

“This way,” he said, taking the lead.

Rose took his hand as they jogged through the surprisingly dry sewer. The Doctor looked at her. _We’ll do Christmas again,_ he promised.

She laughed and shook her head. _Nah. What would Christmas be like if we didn’t have robots trying to kill us?_

He blinked; that hadn’t occurred to him. _This makes four out of six, doesn’t it?_

_Yep._

“What do the Cybermen want?”

Rosita’s question pulled them out of their private conversation. Rose let go of the Doctor’s hand and walked next to the other woman.

“They want more people,” she explained. “See, Cybermen used to be humans, until other Cybermen converted them and put their brains into metal suits. But they don’t remember being human—all they remember is that they want every living thing to be Cyber.”

“You mean, unless we stop them, they’re going to make all of London just like them?”

The Doctor shook his head. “Unless we stop them, they’re going to make the whole planet just like them.”

The light was getting steadily brighter, and the Doctor held up his hand. “Shhh, let’s see if we can get a peek at what they’re doing.”

They knelt in front of a grate and peered down into the large open space below them. A nexus in the sewer tunnels had been turned into a Victorian power plant.

“Well, we know why they wanted the children now,” Rose said grimly. Boys and girls were working every part of the machinery and carrying fuel from one side of the room to the other.

“Upon my soul,” Jackson whispered.

“What is it?” Rosita asked.

“It’s an engine,” the Doctor explained. He gestured across the room at the giant boiler, stretching from floor to ceiling. The steam was powering a series of complex gears that ran around the room.

“They’re generating electricity, but what for?” Like Jackson, he felt like there was something he was missing, some crucial piece of information that would make everything else fall into place.

Jackson reached for one of the info stamps on his bandolier. “We can set them free.”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no.”

Rose watched the Doctor run off, then met Jackson’s confused look. “There’s something going on here,” she explained. “If we go in without knowing all the details, we could get those children hurt, or worse.”

He furrowed his brow for a moment, then nodded. He stood and offered a hand to both her and Rosita, helping them to their feet.

“If that’s the case, then let’s follow the Doctor. The sooner we solve this mystery, the sooner we can rescue those poor children.”

They jogged around a corner and found the Doctor in front of a display.

He whipped out his glasses and squinted at the number. “Power at ninety percent. But if we stop the engine, the power dies down, the Cybermen’ll come running.”

“And that’s why we can’t just break in and rescue all the kids,” Rose concluded.

The Doctor started to nod, but then the display whined and the number disappeared. “Ooo. Hold on.” He tapped his knuckle against the screen. “Power fluctuation. That’s not meant to happen.”

“It’s going wrong,” Jackson half-stated, half-asked.

The Doctor shook his head. “No, it’s weird. The software’s rewriting itself. It’s changing.”

Now that he’d explained what was happening, Rose could see it too. The lines on the display were merging and splitting into new patterns, like soldiers directed into a new formation. Then sparks flew out and nearly singed Rose’s eyebrows.

“Whoa!” the Doctor yelled. “What the hell’s happening? It’s out of control.”

Jackson peered at the monitor. “It’s accelerating. Ninety-six percent, ninety-seven.”

“When it reaches a hundred, what about the children?” Rosita asked, homing in on the most important point.

“They’re disposable.” The Doctor pulled his glasses off and spun on his heel. “Come on!”

Rose tucked her skirt up into her waistband as she ran. Hundreds of children were about to die—propriety be damned.

“Here, Mrs. Tyler, Rosita.” Rose took what Jackson was handing her without looking, knowing by feel that it was an info stamp.

They ducked through the half open grate and ran into the factory just as Cybermen started marching into the room declaring, “Delete. Delete.”

Jackson struck the first blow, killing the two Cybermen nearest the sewer entrance. Ahead of them, the Doctor was trying to herd the children out of danger.

“Right. Now, all of you, out! Do you hear me? That’s an order! Every single one of you, run!”

Instead of running, the children froze in place. Rose destroyed a Cyberman that was about to kill a girl who was no more than six, then she took the child by the hand.

“Come on now,” she encouraged the girl. “Let’s get out of here, yeah?”

A tear trickled down the girl’s grimy cheek, but she held Rose’s hand and nodded. A few other children followed, and Rose led them to the sewer entrance the Doctor was directing them to.

“All of you, come on, as fast as you can,” Jackson encouraged. “Come on!”

Rosita killed the last Cyberman in the room, and Rose let out a breath of relief. They had a little more time to persuade the children now.

The Doctor couldn’t fully share Rose’s relief. They only had until the Cybermen realised what was happening and simply destroyed the room.

He jumped up on a wheel and looked out at the children, some still frozen in fear. “There’s a hot pie for everyone, if you leg it!” he hollered. A few more perked up at that, and his hearts clenched when he realised how hungry they must be.

“Go!”

Jackson waved them into the sewers, and the Doctor leapt off the wheel and jogged over to Rosita.

“Rosita, get them out the sluice gate,” he ordered. “Once you’re out, keep running. Far as you can!”

She nodded and raced through the tunnel with the first group of children. He could hear her voice echoing against the stone walls as she encouraged them to keep running.

The Doctor spun around and grinned when he saw Rose taking the stairs two at a time to get to the catwalks above the engine. “Send them on down, Rose,” he shouted up at her.

Then he motioned to the children who were streaming through the room. “Come on, come on, come on.”

Satisfied that between Rose, Jackson, and Rosita, all the children would get out safely, the Doctor focused his attention on the engine display. For the life of him, he had yet to figure out what it was for.

“It’s some sort of starter motor, but starting what?” He rocked back on his heels and scratched his cheek.

_A conversion factory? But where? The amount of energy this plant is generating would fuel a factory the size of Hyde Park—not easily hidden, even in the sewers._

An anguished cry broke into his puzzled musings.

“Doctor, my son!”

The Doctor darted over to Jackson’s side. “What?” Even though he and Rose had suspected, he’d never thought they’d find Jackson’s son in the midst of all the orphaned children.

But Jackson was staring up through the gears, and when the Doctor followed his line of vision, he spotted a boy of about seven, standing frozen on the edge of a platform high above the engine.

“They took my son,” Jackson sobbed. “No wonder my mind escaped. Those damned Cybermen, they took my child! But he’s alive, Doctor. Frederick!”

The Doctor stepped forward and gestured towards the nearest flight of stairs. “Come on!” he called out to Frederick, hoping he could encourage the boy to move.

“No, he’s too scared,” Jackson said. “Stay there! Don’t move! I’m coming.” He ran towards the stairs, but before he could reach them, a combustion chamber exploded towards them, destroying the stairway.

The blast knocked Jackson to his knees, and the Doctor ran forward to help him to his feet. Jackson’s gaze was still fixed on his son.

“I can’t get up there. Fred!”

The Doctor held Jackson back, afraid he would run into the flames. “They’ve finished with the motor. It’s going to blow up.”

“What are we going to do, Doctor?” Jackson moaned. “What are we going to do?”

The Doctor looked up at the catwalk. “Rose! We need your help!”

“Already on it, Doctor!” she shouted back.

“I don’t understand.” Jackson wrung his hands. “Your wife has certainly proven herself to be more than capable, but how is she going to get from where she is to Fred?”

“Just watch,” the Doctor said.

Rose took a deep breath as she surveyed the options. Jackson’s son was on a platform the next level up from where she was, and in a different part of the scaffolding. There was a chain just out of reach, but if…

She looked at it, then at her proposed landing spot, and nodded. Then she stepped up onto the rickety railing and leapt out, catching the chain and wrapping it around her arm.

Just like she’d planned, the momentum carried her over to the remains of the stairway, and she ran up the last few steps to the platform.

The boy cowered away from her, and Rose knelt down so she could look him in the eyes. “Come on,” she said, holding her hand out. “I’m a friend of your dad’s. He’s waiting for you down there, see?”

Frederick nodded and straightened up. “Good lad,” she praised. “Here, wrap your arms around my neck, and be sure to hold on tight.”

Once she was sure the boy was secure, Rose grabbed a rope and loosened the knot holding it to the platform. “We’re going to swing,” she told him, just like she’d told Donna four years ago.

It was harder to get a running start with the weight of the boy hanging from her, but Rose pushed off just hard enough to take them back over to the catwalk she’d been on before. Frederick let go of her neck and together, they raced down the stairs.

Jackson knelt down and his son ran into his arms.

Rose swallowed back a lump in her throat as she watched the tender reunion. “Merry Christmas.”

Another series of explosions rocked the plant, and the Doctor looked back at the flames. “Yes, definitely,” he agreed. “Happy Christmas. But, I might suggest we get out of here before we celebrate further.”

He put a hand on Jackson’s shoulder, and the man nodded. After getting to his feet, he pulled Frederick into his arms and the four of them raced through the tunnels back to the Lake house.

“Head for the street,” the Doctor directed as they entered the cellar.

The sound of an electronic device powering up caught his attention, and he skidded to a halt and wheeled around. The Dimension Vault was lit up, and he grinned in delight.

“Come on, Doctor,” Jackson called from the stairway. “Hurry up!”

The Doctor pressed two buttons on the side of the vault and the core popped up into the air. He caught it, and Rose chuckled.

“Making it up as you go along?” she guessed.

“Oh yes!”

The ground shook, and they looked at each other, wide-eyed. “Tell me that’s not a dinosaur,” Rose said. They’d just watched _Jurassic Park_ , and the scene in the cafeteria was still vivid in her mind.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “Let’s get out there and check.”

They took the narrow steps two at a time and joined Jackson in the street—Jackson and all his neighbours, it turned out. And all of them were looking up at the sky.

The Doctor looked up and sucked in a breath. “It’s a CyberKing.”

“Yeah, and what’s that when it’s at home?” Rose asked.

“It’s a ship. Dreadnought class. Front line of an invasion. And inside the chest, a Cyberfactory, ready to convert millions.”

As he spoke, the power cells in the arms lit up. “And I walk. I will stride across this tiny little world,” the CyberKing said.

The Doctor slumped when he recognised Miss Hartigan’s voice, now sounding like it was being processed by a voice modulator. _She’s been converted, then._

The ship stepped out of the river, crushing the people and buildings under its feet. “It’s coming this way,” Rose shouted over the screams of the people. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

They ran together, going a quarter of a mile before they were safely out of the path of the CyberKing. The Doctor stopped on a corner and turned in a circle, watching the ship and weighing his options. Frederick whimpered, and the Doctor looked at Jackson and his son.

“Just head south,” he directed. “Take him south. Go to the parkland.”

Jackson narrowed his eyes. “But where are you going?”

Rose took the Doctor’s hand. “To stop that thing.”

Jackson looked from Rose to the Doctor and back again. “But I should be with you.”

The Doctor stepped forward and put a hand on Jackson’s shoulder. “Jackson, you need to get your son to safety. Rose and I have done this hundreds of times before. We know what we’re doing.”

Jackson looked down at Frederick’s face, and the fear and exhaustion in the boy’s eyes convinced him. “Godspeed, Doctor and Mrs. Tyler.”

He ran south, and the Doctor and Rose went in the opposite direction. Conversation wasn’t necessary; the plan had formed in their minds so fluidly that they weren’t certain who had first come up with the idea of using the hot air balloon.

But one new idea occurred to the Doctor as they reached the stable, and he took a quick detour to Jackson Lake’s luggage. He flipped up the lid of a trunk and started tossing clothes on the ground.

“What the hell is that thing, sir?”

He looked over his shoulder and beamed. “Oh, good man. Jed, wasn’t it?” He went back to the trunk and kept rummaging for what he needed. “Jed, I need your help!”

“I’m not going out there,” Jed insisted.

The Doctor tossed a bandolier of info stamps over his shoulder and turned back to Jed. “I’ll give you five pound notes,” he cajoled, feeling guilty as he grabbed a handful of Jackson’s unspent cash.

“Er…” Jed pressed his hand to his temple and shook his head. “All right,” he agreed reluctantly. “What do you want me to do?”

The Doctor raced out of the stable into the courtyard. “The Tardis is going to fly.”

Rose looked at the basket and scowled. “These bloody skirts keep getting in my way. I’m ready to wear trousers again, Doctor.”

He chuckled as he helped her up over the edge. “Your wish is my command, love. Let’s save the Earth, then go home and you can change into comfortable clothes.”

She dropped into the basket and adjusted her skirts. “I knew I loved you for a reason.”

Jed had averted his gaze while Rose climbed into the basket. The Doctor smiled; Victorian propriety was a bit much, but at least it respected Rose’s privacy.

He handed Rose the Dimension Vault core, then grabbed onto the ropes. Before he could hoist himself up into the basket, the CyberKing spoke again like some kind of weird, city-wide tannoy system. “People of the world, now hear me. Your governments will surrender. And if not, then behold my power.”

The Doctor glanced up and saw the forearms of the ship flip around to reveal cannons in the arms. He shook his head and jumped up just as they shot at the city, levelling entire buildings.

Jed stared at him, wide-eyed. “You’re flaming bonkers, sir.”

“So my mother-in-law tells me,” the Doctor said. He took the core from Rose and pressed the power button. His hearts sank when he heard a single beep, the whooshing sound of something trying to power up and failing.

“Not enough power.” He handed it back to Rose. “Jed, let her loose.”

Jed dutifully untied the first of the mooring ropes, and the Doctor started coiling it up in the basket. “Ever flown one of these before?” Jed asked as he worked on the second rope.

“Nope, I’m just making this up as I go along,” he said, winking at Rose.

She laughed, but Jed looked back at them, dismay etched on his face. “Can I have my money now?”

“Don’t worry, Jed,” Rose said. “He does it brilliantly.”

Jed pursed his lips, but went back to work. Finally, he handed the Doctor the last rope and the balloon rose into the air.

“Good luck to you, sir!” Jed shouted from the ground.

Rose handed the Doctor the dimension vault core as they slowly rose above the city. “All charged and ready to go,” she said, brandishing her sonic screwdriver.

He laughed and used his own sonic to adjust the setting of the info stamps. “You, Rose Tyler, are brilliant.”

She gave him a cheeky grin. “I know. Now, what next?”

The Tardis was higher than all the surrounding buildings by now. The only thing still towering above it was the CyberKing.

“Now we start dropping these sandbags to hold our altitude steady,” the Doctor said. Together they heaved the bags over the side of the basket, slowing their ascent and finally stopping it when they were at eye-level with the massive ship.

“How are we going to get it to look at us?” Rose asked.

“Oh, they’ll do that for us,” the Doctor predicted, and sure enough, a moment later the ship stomped slowly to turn ninety degrees and face them.

The Doctor wrapped the bandolier of info stamps around his forearm. “I’ll have one shot at this, Rose,” he muttered _sotto voce._ “If my plan doesn’t work, use the Dimension Vault to send them straight back into the Vortex.”

Rose only had time to nod before they were face-to-face with the bridge of the CyberKing, and Miss Hartigan.

The woman was strapped into some kind of chair, but despite the bindings, she perched on it as if it were a throne and the Cyber-headset her crown. “Excellent,” she scoffed. “The Doctor. Yet another man come to assert himself against me in the night.”

Rose sucked in a breath. “Oh, that does explain a lot.” It didn’t excuse anything, of course, but if that meant what Rose thought, she could certainly understand why the other woman had been interested in the Cybermen’s promise to convert and subjugate all the men in London.

The Doctor rested his hand over Rose’s on the railing, calming her down slightly.

“Miss Hartigan?” he called out. “I’m offering you a choice. You might have the most remarkable mind this world has ever seen. Strong enough to control the Cybermen themselves.”

“I don’t need you to sanction me,” she said scornfully.

“No, but such a mind deserves to live,” the Doctor told her. “The Cybermen came to this world using a Dimension Vault. I can use that device to find you a home, with no people to convert, but a new world where you can live out your mechanical life in peace.”

Rose didn’t even need to hear Miss Hartigan’s response to know she would never accept such an offer, but it was always the Doctor’s way to offer a chance—just one chance.

Miss Hartigan almost laughed, if a Cyberman could laugh. “I have the world below, and it is abundant with so many minds ready to become extensions of me. Why would I leave this place?”

The Doctor’s voice was heavy when he answered. “Because if you don’t, I’ll have to stop you.”

“What do you make of me, sir? An idiot?”

Rose couldn’t just stand by any longer. “Miss Hartigan, can’t you see what he’s offering you? I promise you, the offer is genuine—but so is the promise. He doesn’t give second chances, and he always comes through when there’s a threat to this planet.”

Miss Hartigan looked at Rose. “One day you’ll learn that the promises of a man mean nothing.” She turned back to the Doctor. “Destroy him.”

The Doctor hated what he had to do, even as he raised his arm to fire. “You make me into this,” he mumbled hoarsely.

The beams from the altered info stamps pulsed together into the bridge of the CyberKing. Rose held her breath, but this time, there was no explosion.

When the beam finally stopped, the last info stamp spent, Miss Hartigan was still on her throne, but her eyes were no longer solid black.

Unaware of the change, she tilted her head back and smirked at the Doctor. “Then I have made you a failure,” she said, with enough attitude for a southern belle. “Your weapons are useless, sir.”

The Doctor lowered his arm and let the info stamps drop into the basket. “I wasn’t trying to kill you.” The weight of what had just happened made him sick, and he had to swallow back bile before he continued. “All I did was break the Cyber-connection, leaving your mind open. Open, I think, for the first time in far too many years. So you can see.”

Free from the anger and bitterness that had driven her for years, Miss Hartigan looked left and right, panic growing on her face as she unwillingly obeyed the Doctor’s directions.

“Just look at yourself,” he ordered. “Look at what you’ve done. I’m sorry, Miss Hartigan, but look at what you’ve become.”

Miss Hartigan screamed. Whether she didn’t remember making her bargain with the Cybermen or only now realised exactly what they were, seeing them clearly terrified her. She looked down at her wrists, and her screams became even more shrill when she realised she was trapped.

Rose moved closer, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held her close while Miss Hartigan continued to scream. “I’m so sorry,” the Doctor murmured.

As Miss Hartigan’s fear and despair grew, they sent powerful impulses over the remaining connection between her and the Cybermen. Sparks flew from her crown to the headsets of the nearby Cybermen, and all five of them exploded. A second later, Miss Hartigan too disappeared.

The CyberKing swayed on its feet, unable to remain upright with no one controlling it. “Time for this?” Rose asked, handing him the Dimension Vault.

“The last step of my making it up as I go along plan,” he agreed. He flipped it in the air and caught it, raising it to his shoulder like a rifle.

Aiming carefully, he pressed the button and he and Rose both watched as time and space rippled out and engulfed the ship. “It’s a miniature wormhole,” Rose breathed.

The Doctor was surprised for only a moment before he remembered that of all people, Rose was most likely to recognise a localised wormhole when she saw one. After all, she and the TARDIS had created one only five months ago to trap the Daleks in a black hole.

The CyberKing fell forward into the wormhole and disappeared. “Yes!” Rose and the Doctor shouted together, holding each other tighter.

A sound broke into their celebration, and they looked down at the city. “What is that?” the Doctor said, straining his ears to catch distinct sounds in the dull roar.

“I think they’re cheering,” Rose said, pointing to the group of people far, far below.

“Are they really?” the Doctor said. “Do you know, I don’t think anyone has ever done that before.” He grabbed the bell ringer and swung it wildly, joining in the joyful sound.

The cheers faded, leaving them in the perfect stillness of the open air. Rose gazed down at the city below her. London in 1851 wasn’t exactly the London she was used to—no Canary Wharf, no Gherkin—but it was still recognisable to a certain degree. Seeing it from above was amazing.

“Did I ever tell you I used to want to go up in one these when I was a girl?” she told the Doctor.

He blinked and looked down at her. “No, I don’t think you ever have. You mean after five years of travelling together, you still have a life-long travel dream that we haven’t fulfilled?”

Rose laughed and shifted closer to him. “Life would be pretty boring if all our dreams were fulfilled, Doctor,” she pointed out.

He hummed and wrapped his arms around her waist. “You’ll have to tell me more about these unfulfilled dreams of yours.”

The wind swirled around them, sending a flurry of fresh snow into the basket. Rose tilted her head back, her eyes fluttering closed. “Well,” she breathed. “There’s the one where we share a kiss as we float high above the city in a hot air balloon.”

The Doctor bent down and brushed his nose against hers. “Far be it for me to leave any of your dreams unfulfilled,” he whispered. He felt her lips curve up in a smile just before he kissed her.

For a few lovely minutes, the world narrowed to just them and the snow floating around them. But eventually, the chill of the night air couldn’t be ignored any longer.

Shivering, Rose looked around and realised they’d travelled a few miles north of where they had taken off. “Do you know how to land this thing?” she asked.

“Er.” He tugged on his ear.

“Doctor!”

“No no, hang on.” He grabbed one of the ropes. “I think if we shift this, we’ll lose some of the air…”

He pulled the rope, and a moment later they heard the hiss of air escaping the balloon. Rose watched the skyline and relaxed when the building got a little closer.

“It’s working,” she told him. “Try a little more.”

They eventually managed to bring the balloon down only a quarter of a mile from where they’d taken off, dropping it into a small park. “Jackson can come get it tomorrow,” the Doctor said as he helped Rose out of the basket. “Come on, let’s go say goodbye.”

Jackson met them halfway. “I followed your descent,” he explained in answer to their questioning gazes.

“We left your balloon in that park back there,” Rose said, pointing down the street.

“Excellent. Come, walk with me.”

Rose looked around at the street as they walked. Barrels and carts were overturned and there were a few fires still going, but in the midst of it, people were already putting things back together.

“The city will recover, as London always does,” Jackson said, echoing her thoughts. “Though the events of today will be history, spoken of for centuries to come.”

Rose and the Doctor shared a look. They’d both felt the shift in timelines, the way this brush with alien life caused subtle changes in the history of London.

“Yeah,” the Doctor agreed. “Funny that.”

“And a new history begins for me,” Jackson continued, unaware of the undercurrent of timelines shifting around him. “I find myself a widower, but with my son and with a good friend.”

He looked over his shoulder, and they all turned around to look at Rosita. She was standing with Frederick, both of them smiling at Jackson from the edge of the crowd.

“Rosita will take care of you,” Rose said. “She can help you settle in to this new life.”

Jackson nodded. “You couldn’t be more right, Mrs. Tyler. Frederick will need a nursemaid and I can think of none better.” Frederick waved enthusiastically at his father, and Jackson waved back.

That felt like the perfect segue for their departure, and Rose had the adieu all ready. But before she could speak, Jackson started talking again.

“But you’re welcome to join us,” he offered earnestly. “We thought we might all dine together at the Traveller’s Halt. A Christmas feast in celebration…” His voice trailed off and his smile faded. “And in memory of those we have lost,” he added a moment later.

It was the second time they’d been invited to join a Christmas celebration with a new friend, but unlike four years ago, this time they’d come to London meaning to celebrate the holiday. All thoughts of saying goodbye vanished, and a wide smile stretched across Rose’s face.

The Doctor looked down at her. “Would you like to stay?”

“Yeah!” Rose pictured the perfect Victorian Christmas dinner. “It’ll be just like the end of _A Christmas Carol_!”

The Doctor smiled. “Well, that’s your answer then, Jackson. We’d be delighted to join your Christmas dinner.”

Rose glanced down at her appearance. The dress had somehow managed to avoid getting too dirty, but her hands were filthy and she could feel a layer of grime on her face.

“I’d like to go home and freshen up first.”

Jackson’s eyes lit up. “Back to your Tardis, you mean?”

The Doctor nodded. “Would you like to see?” he offered, gesturing towards the alcove where they’d parked.

“Oh, if I might, Doctor. One last adventure?”

“Of course. You were the Doctor for a fortnight; it’s only fair that you get to see the TARDIS.”

The Doctor led the way, but Jackson ran ahead of him as soon as the TARDIS was visible. “And this is it,” he breathed, brushing his fingers over the blue wooden box. “TARDIS blue—I understand that now.”

“This is her,” the Doctor confirmed as he unlocked the door and pushed it open.

To his surprise, Jackson didn’t rush inside right away. He stared for a moment, then touched the Doctor’s arm in thanks as he slowly stepped through the doorway.

“Oh. Oh my word,” he breathed as he stood on the ramp, staring at the expansive console room. He drew a breath and walked towards the console, his head turning this way and that, trying to take it all in. “Oh. Oh, goodness me. Well. But this is, but this is nonsense.”

Rose laughed. “Yeah, you could say that.”

Jackson stood in front of the jump seat and stared up at the time rotor, looking high up into the vaulted ceiling. “Complete and utter, wonderful nonsense.” His gaze dropped to the control panels, and he slowly reached for one of the controls. “How very, very silly.”

Then suddenly, he pulled back and put his fingers on his temples. “Oh, no. I can’t bear it.” He rocked back, then ran for the door. “Oh, it’s causing my head to ache. No. No, no, no, no, no, no.”

The Doctor and Rose looked at each other, then at the door. “You go check on him; I’m going to wash my hands,” Rose said.

The Doctor nodded and followed Jackson out into the alleyway. He was leaning against the wall, his eyes wide and his shoulders heaving as he breathed fast.

“Oh! Oh, gracious. That’s quite enough.” He shook his head a few times, then straightened up.

The Doctor rested his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Jackson, if anyone had to be the Doctor, I’m glad it was you.”

Jackson smiled, but didn’t reply to the compliment. “The feast awaits. Come—” He paused and looked in through the still-open TARDIS doors. “Where is Mrs. Tyler?”

“Freshening up a bit,” the Doctor explained.

“Ah, yes. That was why we walked back here, wasn’t it?”

The Doctor felt the brush of Rose’s skirts as she stepped out into the street and heard the soft click as she pulled the door shut behind her. “Yes, it was,” Rose said. “But I’m ready to go now.”

Jackson gestured down the street. “Walk this way.”

The Doctor took Rose’s hand, and together they followed their new friend. “We certainly will. Merry Christmas to you, Jackson.”

“Merry Christmas indeed, Doctor and Mrs. Tyler.”

The snow, which had let up earlier, started falling again as they walked to the pub. The scene was Christmas card perfect, right down to their planned Christmas feast.

“This is new,” the Doctor murmured to Rose as they followed Jackson to the pub.

“What is?” she asked, equally quiet.

“Staying around after. Joining the festivities. Not just hopping into the TARDIS and going on to the next stop.”

Rose slung her hand through the crook of his elbow. “It’s not as domestic as it feels,” she told him, sussing out his odd feelings easily. “We’re still in a new place with people we don’t know. It’s more like…” She stuck out her tongue in thought. “Oh! It’s more like going to the cast party with Shakespeare, remember? He flirted with you.”

The Doctor tugged on his tie. “I remember, and I remember Queen Elizabeth trying to execute us the next day,” he said.

“We still haven’t figured out what was behind that, have we?” Rose mused.

Jackson turned around. “Here we are. At the Traveller’s Halt. I should warn you—”

The door burst open and loud cheers rang out from the restaurant. “The Doctor is here! The Doctor and Rose Tyler, they saved us from that metal monster!”

Excited Londoners poured out of the pub and grabbed Rose and the Doctor by the arms.

The Doctor looked over at Rose as they were pulled inside. “I really don’t think anyone has ever done this before,” he said.

Rose laughed as they were pushed forward to the table by the fire. “It’s a better reception than we get in some places. Let’s just enjoy it.”

oOoOo

It was well past one in the morning when the Doctor and Rose left The Traveller’s Halt. More snow had fallen while they’d made merry, and their footsteps were silent on the snow-blanketed street.

“Silent night, holy night,” Rose sang softly.

The Doctor joined in. “All is calm, all is bright.

Round yon virgin, mother and child

Holy infant, so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace.”

The last notes floated away on the winter air as they reached the alcove where they’d parked the TARDIS. “Thank you, Doctor,” Rose whispered. “This was a perfect Christmas present.”

He looked over his shoulder at her as he stuck his key in the lock. “Oh, this wasn’t your gift,” he assured her. “This was just our holiday trip.”

Rose yawned. “Gifts in the morning?” she suggested.

The Doctor pulled the door open and nodded. “Let’s go to bed.”

The next morning, they took their tea and pastries to the library. The TARDIS had put up the Christmas tree, and the fairy lights twinkled at them as they settled into the couch.

Rose rolled her shoulders and sighed. “I think this is a holiday tradition we could really, really let die,” she said.

The Doctor massaged her shoulders. “I agree. I’m not naive enough to think we can have a Christmas without a disaster, but it would be nice if for once, it didn’t involve robots trying to kill us.”

Rose grimaced. “Let’s not tell Mum about our record with Christmas disasters, yeah?”

The Doctor shook his head adamantly. “No, absolutely not,” he agreed. “Although last Christmas was perfectly lovely,” he added.

Rose smiled at him. “Yeah, last year was great.” She shook her head. “Hard to believe that was just a year ago,” she added. “This has been… a very busy year.”

The Doctor was getting anxious to have Rose open his gift, and he didn’t have the patience for a walk down memory lane.

“It has. But speaking of last Christmas, do you know what we did then? We exchanged gifts.”

Rose laughed. “All right.”

She looked at him. There was something in his demeanour… “I think I should go first this year,” she said. Unless she was misreading him, it was her year for her gift to be out done.

He pouted, but nodded. Rose handed him the small present that had his name on it.

“Merry Christmas, Doctor.” She smiled at him. “This is strangely thematically appropriate,” she added.

The Doctor frowned and started to tear the paper off. Thematically appropriate was an odd way to describe a gift.

But when he saw the gift, he understood. “ _A Christmas Carol_ by Charles Dickens,” he whispered. “Thematically appropriate indeed.”

Rose nodded. “And I thought that maybe later today we could find Charlie somewhere and have him sign it, if you want.”

The Doctor nodded fervently. “Thank you, Rose. This is wonderful.”

He glanced down at the wrapped gift sitting on the table. “Can I…” He picked it up and held it out.

Rose’s heart raced as she took it from him. The only time he had ever been this emotionally invested in a gift, he’d had a wedding ring for her.

Her heart caught in her throat when she realised that this too was a jeweller’s box. “Doctor…”

“Just open it, love,”

The intensity pouring off him was almost too much. Rose’s fingers shook as she opened the box.

The bracelet was stunning in its simple beauty. The laurium band was made of two strands of laurium that twisted around each other, like a knotted rope. In the front, the twists opened up into an open figure eight—or the infinity symbol, as Rose suspected was actually the case.

Inside the two open circles of the infinity symbol were the most unique sapphires Rose had ever seen. They were polished instead of having facets, creating a smooth, rounded surface. A white star radiated out from the centre of each stone.

“It’s gorgeous, Doctor.”

Rose started to put the bracelet on, but the Doctor stopped her. “Touch the stones, Rose,” he said, his voice low and rough.

Rose looked up at him, then back at the bracelet. She hesitantly moved a finger to one of the stones, and as soon as she touched it, she realised what the Doctor had been so excited about.

A series of images flashed through her mind, like a slideshow in slow motion. Pictures of the Doctor, both with this face and with the one before. Pictures of them together, video of them laughing and loving each other.

She moved her hand over to the other stone and gasped again. This time, the images were of their friends. Skating with Martha on the mineral lakes of Kur-ha. Dancing at the royal ball with Donna. Sitting in the media room with Jenny, having a movie night.

She moved her finger away from the stone and looked up at the Doctor. “What is it?”

“It’s called a remembrance band,” he said quietly. “It was…”

Rose sucked in a breath. Only one thing made the Doctor this emotional.

“How did that jeweller have it?” she asked. “I thought everything was lost.”

The Doctor shrugged. “Some things survived in museums and the like. A trader came and offered her rare alien treasures. This was amongst the lot.”

Rose brushed her thumb over the first stone again. This time, she saw a picture of them on their wedding day, clasped hands bound by the cloth.

The Doctor took the bracelet from her and slid it onto her wrist. “We can continue adding memories to it, year after year.”

“One more way to share our forever.” Rose scooted closer to the Doctor and wrapped her hand around his tie. He followed the gentle tug and met her lips in a soft kiss.


	9. A Tyler Family Christmas, Part 1

Three weeks later, Rose was looking at the fairy lights on the Christmas tree and thinking about taking the decorations down soon, when she remembered their holiday celebrations weren’t over yet.

“We need to get started on planning the family Christmas,” she reminded the Doctor. “I want to make sure we get a place Mum will love.”

The Doctor nodded. “That is coming up, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Rose looked up at him. “Do you have any idea of where you’d like to go?”

A giddy smile stretched across his face. “Oh, I have the perfect location,” he promised her. “The North Pole!”

Rose blinked. “I’m assuming you don’t actually mean the polar region.”

“No, although that does become a holiday resort sometime during the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire.”

Rose nodded, making a note. That sounded like a fun visit for the future. “All right then, so there’s a planet called The North Pole?” she guessed.

“Oh yes! It’s a massive holiday industry. Santa’s workshop, Christmas tree forests, sleigh rides, ice skating…”

“And since it’s such a favourite holiday destination, there are houses to rent.”

The Doctor nodded and reached for the tablet sitting on the table in front of him. “Absolutely. Houses completely kitted out with everything you could need for a winter holiday, by the way. Sleds, cross-country skis, snow shoes, an axe to cut down a tree from the Christmas tree forest…”

He tapped his fingers against the side of the device. “Now, what’s the name of the booking site…”

Three hours later, they’d found the perfect house. There hadn’t been many available with enough bedrooms for their group, but they’d found one not far from the heart of the tourist district. After stopping to pick up the keys, they sent everyone a text, reminding them to be ready on the morning of the 23rd.

Rose grinned at the Doctor as they returned to the TARDIS. “But we’re not gonna wait three weeks, are we?” she guessed.

He spun a dial and shook his head. “Nope! What’s the point of living in a time machine if you don’t skip ahead now and again? Next stop, Lee McAvoy’s house.”

Only it wasn’t Lee’s house. And it wasn’t the 51st century either, though that didn’t really matter. Instead of taking them to Lee’s, the TARDIS landed them right in the middle of a palace coup.

Rose looked at the Doctor as they led the royal family to safety. “Well, at least living in a time machine means we can still be on time to pick everyone up,” she said, giving him a wink.

In the end, the same three weeks passed for them that had passed for everyone else. They picked up Donna and Lee, and then Mickey and Martha. Rose had to bite her lip to hold back her questions when the latter couple only brought one suitcase with them.

_Something to ask Martha about later._

With the console room already fuller than it usually was, Rose looked around at everyone. “Ready to go to Cardiff?” she asked.

“You’d better hurry,” Mickey said. “Your mum has been going on about this trip for weeks. You don’t want to be late picking her up.”

The Doctor ducked his head so no one would see him rolling his eyes. People kept forgetting the TARDIS was a time machine. Even when they were travelling specifically to be in a different time line.

Rose bumped him out of the way with her hip and when he looked up he realised she’d set most of the coordinates already.

_Yeah, while you were sulking,_ she teased him.

_I wasn’t sulking._ He tugged on his ear. _Just… thinking._

She rolled her eyes and threw the dematerialisation lever. “I think Mum will be pleased with how punctual we are,” she told everyone. “But… just in case, he was the one driving.”

“Oi!”

As soon as the ship landed, they heard a knocking at the door. Donna beat everyone to it, darting up the ramp to throw the door open.

“You got here exactly when you said you would!” Jackie exclaimed as she entered the TARDIS, followed by Tony and Jenny, and then Pete, carrying their bags.

“Mickey, could you help me get the groceries?” Pete asked. Mickey nodded, and the two men stepped outside and reentered with bags of groceries.

The interruption didn’t derail Jackie one bit. “I didn’t know this ship could be so precise.”

“Rose was driving,” Donna explained.

“Oh, well that explains it.”

The Doctor crossed his arms over his chest and looked at his mother-in-law and Donna. “So if we’re on time, it’s because Rose was driving, but if we’re late, I must have been?”

The two women exchanged a look, then looked back at him. “Yeah, basically,” Jackie said.

“Pretty much,” Donna agreed.

“Twelve months,” Jackie reminded him.

“Pompeii,” Donna added.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Fine. Are we…” He paused and counted the people in the console room. “Hang on, where’s Jack?”

“There was a bit of activity that needed to be checked out,” Pete explained. “He took his team, but they should be back in Cardiff by tomorrow evening.” He looked at Rose. “He said he’d text you for coordinates when he was ready to join us.”

“Of course,” Rose said easily. Then she smiled at the Doctor. “Why don’t you take us on this magnificent holiday trip, Doctor?”

What remained of his indignation fled as he imagined how awed everyone would be by The North Pole. “Absolutely, Rose Tyler.” He spun around the console and set the coordinates.

Before throwing the lever, he looked at their passengers. Jackie and Pete were on the jump seat, with Tony in her lap. Jenny had joined Donna and Lee up on the gangway, looking down at them. Martha and Mickey leaned against a strut.

And Rose was right beside him. Rose, who had brought this family into his life.

“Allons-y!” he said, throwing the lever.

The TARDIS shifted into the Vortex with a wheezing groan. Jackie looked up at the time rotor, moving up and down in its glass casing.

“I will never be used to this,” she admitted.

Privately, the Doctor rather thought he’d like to keep it that way.

The ship rocked as they hit a bit of temporal turbulence. Rose ran her hands over the console and the pitch evened out again. A moment later, they both felt the change as they shifted out of the Vortex, preparing to land.

Instead of a thud, they heard sleigh bells when they landed. The Doctor laughed and looked up at the ceiling. _Thanks, old girl,_ he told her. Sleigh bells rang in his mind too, and he laughed again.

“Well, Spaceman, are we going on holiday or are we just going to stay in the TARDIS until it’s time to leave?”

The Doctor blinked and looked at Donna. “Right, yes. Come on, everyone. You won’t believe this.”

He jogged up the ramp and pulled the door open. A few snowflakes swirled into the TARDIS on a gust of wind, and Tony shrieked in excitement.

“Snow, Mummy!” He squirmed in her lap, but Jackie didn’t let go of his hand as they stood up and walked out of the TARDIS.

“Welcome to the North Pole,” the Doctor said grandly. “The planet, not the polar region. An ice planet discovered during the Third Great and Bountiful Human Empire—venture capitalists quickly decided that it would be the ideal location for a winter themed resort.”

“And is that our house?” Jackie pointed at the huge Victorian style house in front of them, complete with a turret and a wrap-around veranda.

The Doctor rocked back on his heels. “Yep!”

“There’s no decorations,” she noted. “All the other houses have lights and things up.”

Rose stepped in. “We thought it would be fun to decorate tonight, as a family. Yeah?”

Jackie smiled. “You’re right, sweetheart.” She looked up at Pete. “Well, come on. We need to get everything inside.”

It took twenty minutes to get all the luggage and food inside, and then another twenty to sort out the room assignments. But finally, they were all gathered in the large main room again. The Doctor clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.

“Thank you! Now, as nice as this room is, it seems to me that it’s missing something. Tony, do you think we need something else to make this feel like Christmas?”

“A tree!”

“That’s right! And there’s a Christmas tree forest just down the road. It’ll be cold, so make sure you put on your coats and hats and boots, etc.”

“I’m going to stay here,” Jackie said. “Someone needs to have lunch ready for you when you get back.”

“You don’t have to do that, Mum,” Rose protested. “We can manage to put something together when we’re done.”

Jackie rolled her eyes. “I’m not interested in getting cold and wet, ta. You have fun getting a tree, and I’ll make sure there’s something hot to warm you up when you get back.”

She glanced around, then leaned closer to Rose. “I need to get the presents hidden. Tony has been a terror, sneaking around trying to find them.”

Rose laughed. “Yeah, all right. Hot soup would be great.” She winked at Jackie.

The group dispersed back to their rooms and returned in five minutes, decked out in winter gear. Everyone, that is, but Rose. The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Jenny, but she just laughed.

“Mum said she’ll be right behind us,” she promised. “Let’s go.”

The Doctor glanced up at the staircase in the direction of their bedroom, but Rose nudged him to go. He shrugged and opened the front door, letting everyone else spill out onto the lawn ahead of him.

_The bobsled service runs from the town centre,_ he told Rose. _We won’t leave without you._

He needn’t have worried. They’d hardly gotten to the end of the street when he heard footsteps tramping through the snow behind him. He turned around and groaned immediately.

“Why did you bring that monstrosity with you?” he asked, tugging on the end of his old scarf.

Rose grabbed it and tossed it around her neck one more time. “I like it,” she defended. “Plus, you said it would be cold, and this is the warmest scarf we’ve got.”

“And…” He raised his eyebrows.

She grinned, letting her tongue peek out. “And maybe I have other plans that I will inform you of later,” she said pertly. “Now, I think everyone is probably waiting for us by the shuttle.”

The Doctor blinked, but took off after her. The rest of their family was indeed already loaded into the bobsleds.

_Which thankfully means they might not notice that scarf,_ the Doctor thought as he and Rose got into the last sled.

The drivers shook the reins and got the sleds moving, and twenty minutes later, they were slowing down at the edge of the Christmas tree forest.

A large, burly man hustled out of the booth at the gate. “Excellent, excellent, a new group. What are you in the market for?” he asked. “Just a tree, or the whole package? Tree, greenery, mistletoe, everything?”

“Oh, we want everything!” Jenny said. “We’ve got a whole house to decorate.”

The man beamed, probably excited by the sale he was soon to make. “Absolutely,” he agreed. “And I see you brought your own axes, very good.” He reached into the booth and pulled out a stack of maps. “Right here is the best place to find a tree,” he said, marking a spot on the map. “And the older trees are all the way at the middle of the forest—that’s where we prefer you to cut your greenery.”

“And mistletoe?” Mickey asked.

He nodded. “There are some ash and sycamore trees at the centre of the forest as well, and also along the perimeter of the forest. That’s the best place to find mistletoe.”

Pete took one copy of a map. “I think Tony and I will look for a tree,” he said. “It sounds like that will be the fastest part of the day, and involve the least amount of walking for little legs.”

“I’ll come with you, Granddad,” Jenny said.

Pete smiled at her in thanks, and the Doctor could only imagine trying to keep Tony corralled and cut down a tree all by himself.

Donna snagged another copy. “We’ll go for mistletoe, I think.” She hooked her arm through Lee’s. “Come on, sweetheart.”

_Oh, that makes me happy,_ Rose said as she took the Doctor’s hand.

_Definitely._

He looked at Mickey and Martha. “Which leaves us to explore the dark centre of the forest,” he said, lowering the timbre of his voice. “Are you ready for that adventure?”

Martha rolled her eyes, but Mickey just laughed. “You bet, Boss.” All four of them took copies of the map and they set off towards the heart of the forest.

“So, how is UNIT these days?” the Doctor asked Mickey. “I only hear from them in the middle of an emergency—what are they like on a day-to-day basis?”

Rose watched as the Doctor and Mickey veered off the path, making their way through a foot of snow to reach the centre of the forest. She wasn’t sure if they were too engrossed in conversation to notice what they were doing, or if they had decided the direct route would be fastest.

She looked over at Martha. “We can follow, or…” She pointed at the snow-packed path they were on.

Martha laughed. “If they want to get soaked, let them. I think we can collect some greenery without forging a path through a snowbank.”

Rose cast her a sidelong glance as they continued down the path. “So…”

Martha glanced over at her, a smile on her face, but she didn’t say anything.

The smile gave Rose permission to ask her question. “One suitcase?”

The words hung in the air for a moment, and Rose nearly demanded that Martha tell her everything. But finally, her friend smirked and said, “Well, it makes sense, since we practically live together.”

Rose squealed, then slapped her hand over her mouth before the Doctor and Mickey came over to ask what was going on. Martha shook her head and laughed.

“I knew you were together,” she said. “But I didn’t know things were going that fast.”

The path curved, and Rose realised they were now walking towards the same stand of trees the Doctor and Mickey had taken off for.

Martha shrugged. “Well, we both know how valuable time is. There’s no point in wasting it, is there?” She craned her neck and Rose knew she was looking for a glimpse of the men. “And Mickey is amazing. He’s so calm and steady. He’s there for me when I wake up from nightmares about that year.”

“And you can tell him what the nightmares are about,” Rose added. “That was the big thing that ended your relationship with Tom, wasn’t it?”

Martha nodded. “Yeah. I mean, Mickey and I work at the same place and we have the same security clearance. Sometimes we might be working on projects that we can’t share, but there’s still that comfort of knowing what the other is up to, in general.”

Rose hugged her. “I’m happy for you,” she said. “And for him. Mickey is a great bloke. We weren’t a good match, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve happiness.”

Martha grinned. “Thanks, Rose.”

They reached tall evergreen trees with massive sweeping branches, without having to make a path through the snow drift. Rose glanced around to see where the Doctor and Mickey were. She smirked when she realised they’d split up. Mickey was stretching up into an oak tree for a sprig of mistletoe, and the Doctor was a little farther down the path cutting evergreen boughs.

“Yeah, let’s rejoin them,” Martha agreed, correctly interpreting her look.

“See you back at the sleds,” Rose said, then set off after the Doctor.

The Doctor smiled when he felt Rose finally coming to join him. He finished cutting down the branch he was working at, then set the axe down on the ground.

Before he could turn around, he felt a loop of fabric wrap around his waist, and then a tug. He looked down and started laughing; Rose was using his scarf to pull him in.

“Trying to reel me in?” He turned quickly, yanking one end of the scarf out of her hands as he did. “Two can play at that game, Rose Tyler,” he said, slowly pulling it hand over hand.

Rose smiled at him, her tongue peeking out. “You’ll have to work harder than that to catch me.” She winked, then spun and started running.

The Doctor laughed and took chase. As he ran, he slowly wound the scarf around his arm until there was only ten feet between them.

Rose looked over her shoulder, then made a quick course correction, going under a huge sycamore tree. Just as quickly, she wheeled around the tree trunk, circling it before he realised what her plan was.

A moment later, the Doctor found himself bound to the tree with his own scarf. “Is this what you had in mind when you grabbed my scarf this morning?”

Rose dropped the scarf and put her hands on his chest. “Maybe,” she said, a coy smile on her face. “It depends. Do you like it?”

His hearts raced as her hands slid slowly over his shoulders. “You know I do.”

She tugged gently on his shoulder to push herself up on her toes, and he willingly met her halfway. Rose’s lips were cold and chapped, but the kiss was still perfect.

She tilted her head and caught his lower lip between her teeth. _Thousands of ways you want to kiss me. That’s what you said the first time I wore the scarf, wasn’t it?_

_Oh, yes. Captured by my scarf wasn’t necessarily on my list, but I like it._

The Doctor tried to pull her close, groaning when he found he was still tied to the tree. Rose managed to move closer on her own, carding her hand through his hair as the kiss deepened.

“I thought we were supposed to be gathering mistletoe, not testing it out.”

Mickey’s voice broke into their private moment. The Doctor sighed as Rose pulled away and unwrapped the scarf to free him.

“What mistletoe?” he asked, slightly put out with Mickey for interrupting.

Mickey smirked and pointed at the tree. The Doctor and Rose both looked up and started laughing when the realised they were right under a large bunch of mistletoe.

The Doctor tugged on his ear. “Welllll… It would be a bit rubbish to bring in mistletoe that doesn’t work,” he said casually.

Mickey shook his head. “You’d better cut that bit down then, because it definitely worked.” Then he gestured back down the path. “Pete just texted. They’ve got the tree and everyone is ready to head back.”

The Doctor did cut down that bunch of mistletoe, then each of them gathered a bundle of evergreen boughs and they set off down the path.

“It’s about time you got here,” Donna called out as they reached the front gate. “We’ve been sitting here for half an hour. I thought I was going to freeze my bum off.”

“Just making sure we got enough to decorate the house,” the Doctor replied. He dropped his pile of greenery and mistletoe next to the tree.

“Right,” Mickey said. “That’s what you were doing. Gathering all the evergreen branches.”

Donna narrowed her eyes. “Were they snogging under the mistletoe?” she deduced.

The Doctor huffed. “I don’t know why everyone is so surprised that a married couple actually enjoys kissing,” he muttered.

Pete cut in before Donna could respond. “We can continue this debate back at the house,” he said firmly. “Jackie has lunch ready for us, and I have a tired, cold three-year-old boy.”

“I’m almost four, Daddy!” Tony held up his mittened hand, presumably with four fingers up.

Pete laughed. “Almost,” he said. “You’re still three for two more weeks.”

Rose unlooped the scarf from around her neck and bent down to wrap it around Tony’s. “There you go, Tony. All snug and warm.”

The only part of Tony’s face they could see were his eyes. He nodded his head quickly, sending one of the loops falling to the ground. Pete picked it up and wrapped it around him again.

“What do you say, Tony?” Pete prompted.

“Thank you, Rose!”

“You’re welcome, Tony. That scarf used to belong to the Doctor.”

Tony’s eyes lit up, and he wrapped his arms around the Doctor’s legs in an awkward hug. “Thank you, Doctor!”

Pete hoisted Tony up into a sled, then got in and waved at everyone. “We’ll see you back at the house.”

oOoOo

Their tree and all the greenery were delivered just as they finished lunch. The Doctor, Jenny, and Pete immediately got to work getting the tree in the stand, while Jackie took a yawning Tony upstairs for a nap.

“Let’s see if we can’t get the lights up and all the greenery hung before he wakes up,” Rose suggested. “He won’t be able to help with those, so he’ll be bored watching.”

“And a bored Tony is a dangerous Tony,” Pete agreed. “Mickey and I can put up the outside lights. Does anyone else want to help?”

Lee raised his hand, and the three of them bundled up and went outside with the lights, a hammer, some nails, and a ladder.

After they were gone, it took Rose, the Doctor, Donna, and Martha twenty minutes to get the tree set up in the holder. Rose had never put a real tree up before, and by the time they were done, she wasn’t sure she wanted to do another.

“At least artificial trees don’t try to tip over and kill you,” she said, brushing pine needles out of her hair.

“No, they just go whirling through your flat, breaking down doors trying to kill you.”

“Yeah, true,” Rose told Jackie, who had just rejoined them.

“Come on, let’s get the lights on before Tony wakes up. He only naps for about half an hour.”

Jenny went upstairs when the lights were almost finished. With all the activity, her jumper was a little warm, and she wanted to change into something more comfortable.

To her surprise, her room wasn’t empty. The duvet was flipped up onto the bed, and she could see a little bum and two feet sticking out from under the bed.

“Tony?”

He squeaked and she heard the bed shake. Then he slowly emerged from under the bed, rubbing at his head.

“Hi Jenny.”

Jenny crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow. “Were you trying to find where Gran hid your presents?”

“Uh… no?”

“Want to try that again?” Jenny offered.

Tony looked up at her with big eyes. “I just need to see,” he insisted.

“And you will. On Christmas morning, just like everyone else.”

Tony pouted and looked away, and Jenny played her last card. “You know there are still the presents from Santa,” she said. “Do you think Santa brings presents to kids who try to sneak a look at gifts before they’re supposed to be opened?”

Tony shook his head slowly.

“And do you think Gran will let you open your gifts if she knows you snuck in here looking for them?”

He shook his head again.

“Okay. I won’t tell her, if you promise not to do it again.”

He heaved a sigh. “Okay.”

Jenny squatted down and hugged him. “Good boy,” she praised him. “Now, go on downstairs. I’ll be right behind you.”

oOoOo

The Doctor snuck away when they were decorating the tree, and when he came back, he had a smug twinkle in his eye. Rose raised an eyebrow at him.

_What are you up to?_

_Just wait and see._

Rose narrowed her eyes for a moment, then shrugged. It was Christmas—there were bound to be surprises everywhere.

“Do you want to put the tinsel on the tree?” she asked Tony, holding out a package of red and silver tinsel.

“Yeah!” He grabbed a big handful out of the package and threw it at the tree. Half of it landed in a clump about three feet up from the ground, and the rest floated to the floor.

“Oh lord,” Jackie moaned. “Why would you give him that?”

Rose looked at the floor. “Yeah… I didn’t think that one through,” she admitted.

Pete took the tinsel from Tony, and everyone else bent down and started picking up what had landed on the floor. It didn’t take long to clean up and redistribute the tinsel more evenly over the tree.

The box of decorations was almost empty. “Just this left,” Martha said, holding up the star.

“Doctor, I think you get to put that up,” Pete said. “You’re the tallest one here.”

The Doctor eyed the tree, then shook his head and got a chair from the kitchen. “This tree is at least seven feet tall,” he said. Standing on the chair, he took the star from Mickey and carefully placed it on top of the tree. Then he plugged it into the strand of lights and it lit up.

Rose turned the overhead light off once he’d climbed off the chair. The multi-coloured fairy lights cast a warm glow, illuminating the nearby ornaments. The bright white light of the star at the top of the tree reflected off the tinsel and sparkly ornaments, casting little dots of light around the room.

For a moment, the room was silent while they all enjoyed the tree. Then Tony said, “I’m hungry. When are we eating again?”

Rose blinked. She hadn’t thought about supper at all. She turned on the light and looked at her mum, and it was obvious Jackie hadn’t either.

Before anyone could get too worked up, the doorbell rang. The Doctor held his hand out to Tony. “I think you’ll want to see who that is.”

They walked to the door hand in hand, and Tony reached up to turn the knob. Rose peeked over his head and gasped along with him when she saw who was standing there.

A young man dressed in an elf suit held five pizzas out. Behind him, a sleigh was parked in the middle of the garden.

“Oh wow!” Tony said. “Are these pizzas from Santa?”

The delivery boy let the Doctor take the pizzas, then he grinned and leaned down to talk to Tony. “You bet they are,” he said. “He says this is for being good so far, but you have to keep it up if you want your presents on Christmas Day.”

“I will!” Tony bounced a few times, and then Jackie reached forward and took his hand.

“Come on, let’s clean up before we eat Santa’s pizza.”

After waving goodbye to the delivery man and shutting the door, Rose looked up at the Doctor. _You are_ very _good._

oOoOo

Rose got up first the next morning and snuck downstairs to set up the surprise she and the Doctor had planned for Jenny. They’d visited her favourite bakery on Kalfon and picked up a box of pastries. Rose also had two rolls of streamers, and she decorated one of the chairs at the table.

When everyone else came downstairs, Jenny’s place at the table was completely decked out. Jenny stopped in the doorway and looked at it. “Mum?” She turned around and looked at the Doctor. “Dad? What’s going on?”

The Doctor wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. “Happy birthday, Jenny,” he said.

Jenny squealed and spun away from him, running around the table to hug Rose. “Oh my god,” she said. “I didn’t know… I wasn’t even thinking. But you’ve been keeping track?”

Rose hugged her, then let her go with a smile. “Of course we have. You were born two days before Valentine’s Day. So, exactly a year ago in our timeline.”

“What’s this?” A new voice joined the clamour, and Rose realised her mum had only just woken up.

“It’s my birthday, Gran,” Jenny called out.

“Oh, happy birthday sweetheart!” Jackie glared at the Doctor and Rose in turn. “We didn’t know your birthday was Christmas Eve, or we would have had presents for you.”

Rose sighed. “Not Christmas Eve for us, Mum,” she said.

But Jackie had already moved into the kitchen to start the coffee and tea. Rose had a strong suspicion that they would never convince her that Jenny’s birthday did not fall on Christmas Eve.

She shrugged. “Come on, let’s sit down. Jenny gets first choice of the pastries, but there’s plenty to go around.”

oOoOo

“So what’s on the agenda for today?” Martha asked as they finished breakfast.

“Well Tony wants to decorate cookies tonight, so first we have to bake them,” Jackie said. “After that, I figure himself over there probably has some kind of plan.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Yes, thank you Jackie. I do in fact have a plan.” He ate the last bite of the pastry, then wiped his fingers on his napkin. “Today being Christmas Eve, the festivities are at their height. We could see Santa’s workshop, or go ice skating on the pond. There are Christmas shops to browse, hot chocolate stands to visit… It’s several days worth of fun, actually.”

“Well, what does everyone want to do?” Pete asked.

“Santa’s workshop!” Tony shouted.

“Indoor voice, Tony,” Pete chided.

“Sorry Daddy.” The boy dropped his voice to a whisper. “Santa’s workshop.”

Pete hid a smile. “All right. If you brush your teeth and don’t argue with Mummy while we make the cookies, we’ll take you to Santa’s workshop.”

Donna tried to smile at Tony’s antics, but it was hard. Lee rested his hand on her knee, and she knew he felt it, too.

“I think we’ll go for a walk while the rest of you bake cookies,” she said as everyone started to leave the breakfast table.

The Doctor tilted his head and looked at her, and a moment later, understanding flashed in his eyes. “All right. There’s a beautiful path through the woods that’s lined with fairy lights.”

Donna nodded. “Thanks.”

Ten minutes later, she and Lee were bundled up and leaving the house. Lee’s hand took hers immediately, and Donna held it tight.

Fresh snow had fallen overnight, and walking through the pristine whiteness felt almost sacred—the perfect atmosphere for what she was feeling.

They found the path right where the Doctor had said they would. A breath caught in Donna’s throat; the lights made the fresh snow sparkle, like someone had just sprinkled glitter.

“P-pretty,” Lee said.

Donna nodded and reached up to touch the closest tree. Snow fluttered down around them, and she sighed.

“Do you remember?” she asked quietly.

Lee’s hand tightened around hers. “Yes.”

“They would have loved this planet,” she said, finally bringing the thought out into the open.

He sucked in a breath. “Yes,” he said. This time, the tremble in his voice wasn’t from his stutter.

Donna looked out at the snow-covered world. “They would have played hide and seek in those trees, and had a snowball fight.”

“Joshua loved snowmen.”

Donna hadn’t said their names since she’d told the Doctor about the children she’d had in the Library. Hearing it now made the first tear well up.

“And Ella…” She sniffed. “Ella would’ve loved to bake cookies with Jackie and Tony.”

A cold finger brushed a tear off her cheek, and she finally looked up at Lee. “Why couldn’t they be real?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed a few times, and finally he shook his head. “I don’t know,” he answered hoarsely.

He tugged gently on her hand, and Donna went willingly into his embrace. “I miss them,” she whispered. “God, I miss them.”

They stood like that for several minutes, but finally, they heard voices coming their way. “We should get out of the way,” Donna said.

Lee took her hand again. “Hot chocolate?” he suggested.

“Yeah. With lots of marshmallows.”

They shared a poignant smile and walked back into town. Joyful, childish laughter reached their ears as they got closer to the town square. For a moment, Donna’s heart squeezed. Loss was so hard, and it hurt to be reminded…

Lee wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Someday,” he whispered in her ear.

And the first thrill of anticipation shot through her. They had lost so much in the Library, but they’d also found each other. And as long as they had each other, they could always start over.

She turned her head and caught Lee’s mouth in a soft kiss. “Yeah, someday,” she agreed after pulling back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of A Tyler Family Christmas will be up next week. This chapter was going to be over 12,000 words, so I split it.


End file.
